KOTOR: A Chance at Redemption
by Refracted Shadow
Summary: Betrayed by his apprentice and condemned by the Jedi. What will happen when Revan's suppressed memories and power begin to resurface? Chapter 7 now up. On hold for a little while
1. Prologue

**AN: I'm trying to put this fic up on another site as well and it requires some extra polish. Then person I got to beta this gave me some suggestions and so I have expanded on this chapter a bit. I'll probably end up posting revised versions of my other chapters as well. I hope you like the new version of this chapter.**

**Prologue**

There was a fierce battle raging out in deep space; the Sith fleet threatened to decimate the Republic forces. The fleets were of equal size, but the Republic vessels were sluggish and not moving in to break up Sith formations. The smaller and more maneuverable Sith fighters were everywhere, picking off Republic fighters left and right. One Sith Interdictor, the _Leviathan_, was tearing Republic capital ships apart under a barrage of turbolaser fire.

One particular Republic fighter group managed to break through a gap in the Sith formations and attack a Sith Interdictor. All the laser cannons trained onto the fighters, ignoring the shuttles making their way to board the Interdictor. Out of the seven fighters, five were quickly disposed of. One of the remaining two fighters turned, engaging the attacking Sith fighters, only to explode under a cascade of laser fire pouring from the vessel it so desperately tried to flee. The remaining fighter made a suicide run at the bridge of the Interdictor, but was blown to scrap by a Sith fighter. A dark ominous figure stood at the bridge's viewing window, quietly surveying the unfolding battle.

On the bridge of his flagship, the _Defiance_, Darth Revan watched in calculated anticipation of the Jedi Trap. His spies had told him about the foolhardy plan to capture him. In response to the threat, Revan had sent Malak, his long-time friend and apprentice, to command the fleet from the _Leviathan_. So now Revan, The Dark Lord of the Sith waited patiently on the bridge of his vessel for his date with destiny.

"Lieutenant, make sure the forces on the bridge are prepared for battle, I am expecting some guests." Darth Revan spoke and even though his voice was modulated by his mask, it was obvious his tone was ladened with confidence.

"Yes, Milord."

"I am expecting some guests." He said musingly. "And they deserve a proper welcome."

_So the foolish Jedi Masters sent their favorite little puppet, Bastila Shan, to capture me. _From behind his mask Revan smiled reflectively_. Still, her battle mediation would make her an excellent replacement in Malak's stead__After all my apprentice has become increasingly obstinate __as of late._ Revan thought.

A few minutes later, the door to the bridge burst open allowing the Jedi and a few Republic soldiers to enter. Entering the bridge, two of the Jedi each waved a hand causing the guards at the door to fall asleep. Revan continued watching the space battle, while Dark Jedi and Sith soldiers fought the invading force. Console operators ducked behind their stations to avoid being hit by a stray blaster bolt, while some soldiers used the consoles for cover. The bridge lit up with blaster fire and minor explosions. Several consoles exploded, killing the soldiers behind them. A Sith soldier made the mistake of shooting at a Jedi and found his bolt coming right back at him.

Light and Dark Jedi met in a dizzying exchange of clashing lightsabers and repeating blaster fire. Red humming blades clashed against blue, yellow and green ones, over the rumbling sound of constant explosions. Thrusts and slashes were countered with parries and twirls.

Even though the Sith were well trained, the Republic forces were able to win the skirmish. The last remaining Republic soldier tried to sneak up on Revan, but sensing him through the force, the Dark Lord effortlessly reached out, telekinetically stringing his would-be assailant in an invisible noose. Not until the last Dark Jedi was defeated, did Revan turn around to face the Jedi.

As he turned to face the Jedi, Revan squeezed the soldier's throat a little tighter crushing his final breath with a sickening crunch and tossing the lifeless corpse across the bridge like a wet towel. The Jedi watched with unnaturally calm looks, while on the inside they all cringed.

Meanwhile, the Jedi stepped forward in a manner to present a challenge to the Dark Lord. He could not help but admire the lead Jedi; she was young, barely twenty years of age. She was an attractive human, with chestnut hair pulled back into twin braids falling down her back and bright blue eyes. She ignited her lightsaber, which cast a yellow glow over her tan body suit that hugged her every curve.

"You cannot win Revan" Bastila Shan threatened with a tone that held more confidence than she felt.

Revan merely shrugged and pulled out a lightsaber of his own, and ignited the crimson blade. To convey his boredom, Revan twirled the blade around a few times before bringing it to rest over his shoulder with the tip pointing at Bastila's chest.

"Look outside Padawan." Revan taunted. "I have already won and when this battle is through I will bring an end to your precious Jedi Order."

They stood like this for many moments until Bastila finally decided to rush Revan. She froze as through the view port she saw another Sith ship firing on the _Defiance_. Revan sensed the attack seconds before it hit, and he knew immediately who was attacking him.

_You shall pay for this betrayal Malak, I wont let you live this time_; and then Revan's world was plunged into darkness.

Once the explosions from the initial attack died down, Bastila found herself lying on her back a few feet from where she was standing. Her head was in considerable pain, she had hit the bridge deck hard when the explosion had thrown her back. When she tried to move, she found that she was unable to and that her left leg throbbed. Looking to see what was holding her in place she saw that a console had fallen onto her leg. She was used the Force to push it off of her and then Bastila and sat up groaning with pain.

She took a moment to thank the Force she was still alive and then surveyed the situation on the _Defiance's_ bridge. The other Jedi appeared to be dead, and there was a dark figure lying on the floor a few feet from her.

Bastila crawled over to the fallen Dark Lord, pushing past debris. Once she reached Revan, Bastila took out her lightsaber and prepared to finish off the Dark Lord. She thought that she could be a hero being the one to kill Darth Revan.

_No, such thoughts are of the Dark Side. I am here to capture Revan, not kill him._

She put the lightsaber away and removed the Dark Lord's mask to get a better look at his injuries. There was smoke still coming off his robes and Bastila could smell the burnt flesh from electricity that had coursed through his body. On his forehead there was a large gash where he hit his head when Revan collapsed. There was a long, deep gash on his right cheek that went up to his eye from where his mask cut into the face. Bastila drew heavily on the Force to preserve the speck of life still left in Revan. Unbeknownst to the young Jedi, this would have consequences she was not ready to handle.

As Bastila finished stabilizing Revan, another Jedi woke up. This startled Bastila for a moment, since she thought all of her companions were dead. She quickly recovered and told the Jedi Knight to carry the Dark Lord to their ship, since Bastila was too exhausted.

"Is …. is that Darth Revan?" asked the Jedi nervously

"Yes. He is alive, but we must get him to the Masters" answered Bastila. _But why must I save him? He has killed so many innocents and who knows how many Jedi; I'd be doing the Republic a service killing him._ Bastila shook her head to clear her thoughts. _I can't do that, the Masters want him alive. They need him to learn the secrets of the Sith's power._

The two Jedi made their way to the boarding craft with the prone Dark Lord. Getting to the ship was an arduous task since the _Defiance_ was falling apart around them. As they neared the hangar the two Jedi could hear the groaning of the metal wanting to give way. Bastila was slightly ahead of her companion and in the middle of one hallway a force field went up, separating them. The Jedi looked at each other in confusion and then the blocked off section blew open sucking the Jedi into the coldness of space while Bastila watched on. Not waiting for the Interdictor to do the same to her, Bastila doubled her efforts in getting to the hangar.

She made it to the shuttle with the Dark Lord and took off before Revan's flagship started to break apart. From the view port, Bastila could see explosions riddled the _Defiance_. The bottom half of the claw shaped ship broke off and the other half was caught in a series of explosions that spewed large chunks of metal into space. The Jedi transport reunited with the Republic fleet and they went into hyperspace.

**Dantooine**

Revan had been in a kolto tank for months healing from the injuries he received in the battle. His body was covered with electrical burns from the power conduit that exploded behind him. Some metal shards pierced his body and a metal rod was jabbed into him. Without the healing power of the Force and the aide of kolto, Revan wouldn't have survived. One thing the Force couldn't heal was the scar that formed on his right cheek.

The Jedi Masters were anxious to speak with Revan, and see if they could persuade him to have a change of heart. When he was well enough to talk, the Jedi did not take any precautions to keep Revan secure. They used a Force suppression collar, even though he was still weak, they did not want to underestimate him.

"Where the hell am I?" Revan demanded groggily as he awoke. The last thing he could remember was facing off against Bastila on his flagship.

"On Dantooine you are." replied a small green, gnome looking creature.

"Let me go Vandar." He ordered thrusting out his hand in a manner to choke Vandar with the Force, but nothing happened. Revan tried again before putting a hand to his neck and feeling the collar. _Damn Force suppression collars. Now I will have to suffer through their worthless lecturing._

"And let you go back to destroying the Republic and Jedi, humph, I think not Revan" said an older human male with a gruff demeanor.

"It's nice to see you too Vrook. Okay, who else is here to mock me in this humiliating position." Revan replied tartly.

"Here to mock you, we are not Revan. To ask a task of you, we are. But to answer your question, also here are Masters Dorak, Atris, and your former master, Zhar."

"Great. Let's get this party started."

"Must you always be so disrespectful Revan?" Vrook complained.

"Until you do something to earn my respect, yes. And what is this about a task; what makes you think I'll help you?"

"The task we ask of you is for you to destroy whatever it is that is powering the Sith armada." explained Master Zhar, a Twi'Lek Jedi.

Revan laughed. "There is no way I'd help you do that." He said. "Have you Jedi lost it, why would I help you destroy all I've worked to create?"

"We are giving you a chance at redemption Revan, are you just going throw this opportunity away?"

"I never asked for redemption. What I want is for you to let me go so I can return to my fleet." Revan snorted.

"Such arrogance."

"I see that we will not get anywhere with this. I believe another course of action be taken." suggested Master Atris, a middle aged Echani woman.

"Master Atris, such methods are not becoming of Jedi" retorted Master Dorak, an older, dark skinned man. "We preserve life, not take it away. And what you intend to do is taking away Revan's life.

"If Revan is unwilling to cooperate, then he leaves us with no other choice" Atris countered. "If we can make him more agreeable, then we will have a chance at stopping the Sith."

"Yes, it is the only way." agreed Vrook.

"What are you talking about?" snapped Revan. The Jedi normally didn't scare him in the least, but their vague discussion was frightening him. _Make me agreeable? What do they plan to do, literally change my mind?_

"Like this decision, I do not; but agree with it I will."

"Wait, we are Jedi, we give people a chance at redemption. We do not perform such barbaric acts when they disagree with us." exclaimed Zhar.

"He leaves us no choice. We need to stop the Sith, and we need Revan to do it," said Atris. "If he will not change his mind, we will do it for him."

"I will not have a part in this," Zhar said as he left the room.

Masters Dorak, Vandar and Vrook used their power to weaken Revan, so Master Atris could perform the ritual. Revan struggled with all his strength, but he was unable to hold back the four masters. It felt like vibroswords carving into his brain, the pain was so extreme.

"What are you doing?" yelled Revan as he struggled. "You will never win; you will never find the Star Forge."

_So that is the source of Sith power, what could this Star Forge be?_ Thought Master Dorak.

"It is done." said Atris after three hours of extreme concentration.

"Will he be properly contained?" asked Vrook.

"Yes, as long as he does not suffer a severe head trauma."

"Are you sure about this? We don't need the Dark Lord reemerging."

"Do not worry, the Sith holocron I learned the ability from was very specific."

"I hope we made the right choice," said Dorak.

"So do I, so do I," Vandar agreed.

For the past few months Bastila had been training constantly in order to distract herself from the events that occurred during the battle. She also could not stop thinking of Revan; Bastila was shaken by the change in her childhood friend. The last time she had seen him was before Revan had gone to war; Bastila could sense some anger in him, but nothing like the darkness surrounding him on the bridge of his flagship. Bastila could barely stifle her tears at how such a good man had fallen so far. Even though Revan was a few years older than her they had become quick friends, always competing with the other; Revan usually won. He would tease her mercilessly, trying to irritate her and see how far he could push her. But also, sometimes they would seen out of the enclave and watch the stars, telling each other of what they hoped to accomplish once they were knights. After Revan had fallen Bastila pushed herself to become the perfect Jedi, completely adhering to the code and not allowing for the type of distractions Revan used to bring.

When she arrived at Dantooine with Revan, the Dark Lord was still in critical condition. Bastila didn't know if Revan would survive and this was disconcerting, since she knew that the Masters had important plans for Revan. But what bothered her most was how concerned for him she was; she shouldn't care this much, especially after leaving her to fight in the war. While walking through the enclave, Bastila went by the medical center where she saw her master, Vrook, coming out into the hall along with Master Vandar.

"Master Vrook, how is Revan?" Bastila asked.

_We cannot tell her what we did, she would not understand._

"Revan was seriously injured in the attack, his body will heal," answered Vrook, "but his mind was damaged beyond repair."

"I see, so what of the plans you had for him?"

"We were able to program Revan with a new identity. From there you should be able to tap into the remaining fragments of his mind and hopefully you will discover the Sith's secrets."

"How can I do that?"

"Share a bond with Revan, you do. Allows for greater access to his mind it does. Put him under your command on a mission we will."

"But … but, what if something goes wrong. I cannot handle Revan if he should fall again."

"Calm yourself Padawan; Revan will no longer be able to touch the Force."

"I'm sorry Master. Of course, I shouldn't question your greater wisdom."

"Then everything is set. To Coruscant you will go, and you will take command of the _Endar Spire_."

"Am I to undertake this mission alone, Master Vandar?"

"No young Padawan, five other Jedi will be joining you. Also, Carth Onasi, a Republic soldier will be there to guide you."

"As you wish Master."


	2. Crash and Burn

**AN: This is the updated version of the chapter. I've added some more scenes and fixed some of the problems.**

**Chapter 1: Crash and Burn**

In space above the planet of Taris a lone Republic ship was being overwhelmed by a Sith fleet. Try as it might, the vessel stood no chance. The crew did the best they could at fighting boarding parties and getting to escape pods, but there was little hope that any of them would make it out alive. Turbolaser fire from the Sith Fleet threatened to destroy the Republic ship at any moment. A blast rocked the ship, knocking Ian Verik from his bunk.

_Argh, what the hell was that? Did the pilot forget how to fly this thing?_

Ian was groggier than usual. Normally his old smuggler's instincts would kick in and he would be ready for action. But he was caught unaware and was having difficulty figuring out what was happening. Running a hand through his brown hair Ian searched the room for an answer to the disturbance with his hazel eyes, but all he found was a footlocker. As he made his way to the footlocker the door behind him opened suddenly, allowing a Republic soldier to enter.

"Who the hell are you?" Ian demanded of young man who barged into the room.

"Come on, we need to get to the bridge to help Bastila," ordered the soldier.

"Yeah, yeah, fine," Ian snapped. "But first tell me who the hell you are."

"Damn it, we don't have time for this," the soldier said irritatingly and running a hand through his blond hair. "I'm Ensign Trask Ulgo, I was sent here by the Jedi to get you to the bridge."

"Hey, isn't Bastila a Jedi? She should be able to take care of herself," Ian commented.

"Nobody is perfect, not even a Jedi."

"I guess your right."

Ian finished getting dressed and headed out for the bridge with Trask. The pair didn't even get a few feet past the door when their communicators went off with a message about the dire situation they were in.

"This is Carth Onasi. The Sith have boarded the _Spire_, all hands are needed on the bridge." The voice was authoritative, but a hint of anxiousness was detectable.

"If Commander Onasi thinks things are bad then we had better hurry." Said Trask

XxXxX

The bridge crew had a clear view of the Sith fleet that was working on blasting them into space dust. Commander Carth Onasi had been in some tight spots during the Mandalorian War and this ranked up among them. There was no way to salvage the situation; their best bet was to evacuate the ship. But trying to get that insufferable Jedi to listen to reason would be slightly less difficult than fighting off the Sith fleet with only the _Endar Spire_.

"Alright Bastila, its time to leave," Said Carth.

"Did you warn the crew?" She replied ignoring Carth.

"Yes, now let's go."

"I can't run away there may be something I can do to help."

"The Sith are after **you** Bastila, that's why you need to get to the escape pods."

"Maybe my battle meditation can help."

"Its too late, they've already boarded."

Still ignoring him, Bastila was getting into a kneeling position to meditate. With a frustrated sigh, Carth grabbed Bastila's arm and yanked her in the direction of the escape pods.

"What exactly do you think you are doing?" she demanded

"Getting you to safety."

"Let me go." She tried, unsuccessfully to remove her arm from Carth's grasp. "There must be something I can do?"

"There is; you can get to a pod while there's still time."

Carth continued to pull Bastila through the ship to the escape pods. They were getting close when the door in front of them opened to reveal a squad of eight Sith soldiers. Reacting to the danger, Carth pushed Bastila behind some plasteel containers for cover. He didn't have a chance to follower her before the Sith opened fire; Carth ducked and sprinted to the other side of the room to take cover behind some more containers. Carth called in for backup before the Sith could overwhelm them.

Due to the confined space Bastila only ignited one end of her lightsaber and stood up focusing all the attention on to her. With an unnecessary thrust of her hand, Bastila manipulated the Force to throw all the Sith backwards. With her enemies disoriented she jumped out from behind the container and cut down two of the Sith. The other six recovered before Bastila could deal with them.

With all the blasters firing at her, Bastila had to put all her concentration into deflecting bolts and was unable to go on the offensive. Carth took advantage of being forgotten by springing up and unloading his two blasters at the Sith. Two more fell to Carth's shooting and one was killed by a deflected bolt.

A moment later a couple Republic soldiers appeared in the doorway and opened fire on the Sith. Taken by surprise the remaining three Sith had no chance to find cover. They were quickly defeated by Carth, Bastila and the two Republic soldiers.

"Let's move." Carth ordered.

"You go on Commander, Lady Jedi. We'll cover you," said a soldier.

XxXxX

Ian and Trask made their way through the corridors of the _Endar Spire_, racing to get to the bridge before it was too late. Nearing their destination the pair found themselves in the middle of a fire fight. Two Republic soldiers had taken cover and were trying to repel Sith forces. The four Sith had their enemies cornered and would have finished them off, but Trask and Ian interfered.

The pair opened fire on the Sith. Trask had decidedly better aim; he shot one Sith in the middle of his face mask before the rest could scramble for cover. For a few precious minutes the two sides fired volleys at each other, neither gaining any ground. Becoming impatient and spurred on by the reinforcements, a Republic soldier decided to attack the Sith head on.

"Fall back." Trask called, but the soldier ignored him.

Once he was out in the open the Republic soldier rapidly fired his blaster rifle hoping to hit a Sith stupid enough to stick his head out. And there was. The Sith moved from his cover to get a better aim and distract the Republic soldier. Immediately the Sith was pelted by blaster bolts with enough force to push him back into bulkhead. As the Sith soldier's lifeless body slid down the wall the other two Sith showed themselves and blasted the Republic soldier.

Ian was fed up; they had wasted enough time with these Sith. "I can't take this anymore." He said irritatingly. "Got a frag grenade?" he asked Trask.

"What do you want one for?"

"To kill the Sith."

"Are you crazy? You don't know what that could damage, we could end up getting killed ourselves."

"Well, we'll die anyway if we just sit here."

Trask didn't reply, but handed Ian a frag grenade. He set the weapon to detonate a couple seconds after it had been released. When there was a break in the blaster fire Ian turned and tossed the explosive at the unsuspecting Sith. Screams could be heard as the grenade went off. Ian, Trask and the last Republic soldier made their way to the Sith with their blasters held at the ready in case the Sith managed to survive. They rounded the corner to see that one Sith was killed, but the other was still squirming on the deck. Trask fired a bolt into him causing the Sith's body to lie still.

"See? It worked," said Ian smugly as he pilfered some medpacks from the bodies.

As the three approached the door they heard a distinct humming sound coming from beyond it.

"That sounds like lightsabers." Said Trask.

The door opened to the next hallway revealing two figures circling each other. Indeed they did hear lightsabers. A Dark Jedi dressed in the traditional uniform of a form fitting body suit and a mask, twirled his crimson lightsaber looking for an opening on his young female opponent. She wore the typical tan robes and leggings that most people associate with the Jedi order, but wielded a rare violet bladed lightsaber. The pair exchanged a few slashes testing the skill of the other. Satisfied, the Dark Jedi lunged at his adversary causing her to make a quick parry and back up a few paces.

"Not so confident now, are we girly?" the Dark Jedi taunted as he unleashed a torrent of blows the Jedi was barely able to keep up with.

Seeing that the Jedi was losing the battle, Ian pulled his vibrosword out of its scabbard. But as he moved in to help the Jedi an arm blocked his path.

"What are you doing?" asked Trask

"I'm going to help her," said Ian.

"That's a Dark Jedi: this battle is too much for us," He explained. "The Dark Jedi will kill you if you go out there!"

"And if he kills that Jedi we'll all be dead anyway."

Trask moved his arm to let Ian pass, but he wouldn't make it in time. The Jedi's movements appeared sluggish compared to the rapid attacks from the Dark Jedi. Acting fast Ian threw his vibrosword at the Dark Jedi. This caused the Dark Jedi to slow down his rate of attack so he could will the vibrosword away. Being cocky the Dark Jedi contorted the Force to fling the sword back at Ian, but he did so at the cost of some his concentration in the duel. Sensing this distraction the Jedi went on the offensive. She came at the Dark Jedi with all her strength, batting his blade to the side with a blow to the left and coming back with a slash to the right she catching the Dark Jedi in the midsection.

As her opponent fell the Jedi disengaged her weapon and focused on getting her breathing under control. Ian was walking over to the Jedi when he noticed something familiar about her position; she was standing in front of a power conduit. For reasons he wasn't entirely sure of, Ian sprinted towards the Jedi. She was about to turn to thank the person who helped her when a solid form knocked her hard to the ground, causing the young Jedi to lose her breath. A second later the power conduit that was behind the Jedi exploded and would have surely killed her if she had been standing there.

"Thanks," the Jedi panted.

"Don't mention it," said Ian as he helped the Jedi to her feet.

"No time for introductions, we have to move," Trask ordered.

Ian and the Jedi retrieved their weapons and followed Trask to the bridge door. The only people occupying the bridge were four Sith soldiers. The Jedi ignited her lightsaber and moved to a position to protect everyone else from blaster fire, but before she could get in front a bolt killed the Republic soldier. She deflected the rest of the blaster bolts and led Ian and Trask onto the bridge. Getting close the Sith exchanged their blasters for vibroswords.

The Jedi fought with two of the soldiers while Ian and Trask took on the other two. Being aggressive a Sith lunged his weapon at the Jedi, but she easily parried the attack and riposted, stabbing the soldier in the chest. The other Sith slashed at the young woman, but her Jedi reflexes allowed her to move faster than one would think possible. She parried a few blows by the soldier and then their weapons came together in a battle a strength. The two pushed back against each other until the Jedi rotated her wrist changing the angle of the blade so it severed the Sith's hand. While the he cried out in pain the young woman spun and kicked the Sith in the gut sending him crashing into a console.

Ian advanced on the Sith he was fighting who, realizing that is opponent was the better swordsman, kept backing up to avoid getting killed. In desperation the Sith made a downward slash with all his strength. Ian was able to block the attack, but he couldn't push the Sith back. After a minute long power struggle, Ian's foot flashed out catching the side of the Sith's knee. The Sith fell over with a cry and a powerful slash from Ian's weapon relieved the soldier of his head.

Trask was holding off the Sith soldier, but with some difficulty. He was proficient in using a blaster, but his skills with a vibrosword were only rudimentary. Attempting another parry the Sith's blade got by and bit into Trask's leg causing him to stumble slightly. Knowing that his opponent had the advantage Trask hoped that Ian or the Jedi would be able to help him. But that didn't look very likely as the Sith stood over Trask, ready to finish him off. As the Sith brought his weapon down the ship shook violently from Turbolaser fire causing the Sith to lose his balance. Regaining his equilibrium the Sith tried to kill Trask again and bringing his arm back for a vicious attack, but before he could even swing he felt a searing pain as a lightsaber removed his arm. Paralyzed with shock, there was nothing the Sith could do as the Jedi sent him flying across the bridge.

"Well, obviously Bastila isn't here," said Ian exasperated.

"Hopefully she made it to the escape pods alright," said Trask.

XxXxX

"Are you certain there is nothing I can do to help, Commander Onasi?" Bastila inquired as she reluctantly made her way into the escape pod.

"Positive," said Carth, firing bolts at the Sith soldiers threatening to overrun them. "Go. It's only me and …." The two Republic soldiers fighting along side Carth were overwhelmed with blaster fire. "… it's only me covering this position and I can't hold it forever."

"Why don't you escape with me, there is plenty of room in the pod."

"Nah, you're the important one. I can risk my neck for a little while longer."

"To serve what purpose Commander?"

"The readout shows that there are still some soldiers alive, and I don't leave anyone behind."

"Do you think this wise? We can't afford to lose you."

"Don't worry, there's one escape pod left. I'll take it before the Spire can blow. Now GO!"

With a slight nod Bastila entered the pod and pressed the ignition switch, a moment later the pod blasted out into space.

The charges on his blasters empty, Carth sealed the door to the pod room. First order of business was to replace the charges in case the Sith managed to get the door open. Next thing he had to do was inform the crew that the Spire was a doomed ship and then wait for any more survivors.

"This is Carth Onasi. Bastila's escape pod is away, all hands to the escape pods." _Anyone that's still alive, get here fast._ Carth thought solemnly.

XxXxX

"Well, you heard the Commander. Let's move." Trask ordered.

"Yes Sir," said Ian giving a mock salute.

As the trio got close to the escape pods they could feel an ominous presence nearby. There were two doors to take and Trask decided to quench his curiosity.

"Come on, this way," said the Jedi heading towards the other door, but Trask didn't listen.

When he approached the door it opened for them to see what it was they feared: another Dark Jedi. This one looked even more menacing: he had a bald head, glowing yellow eyes and wore dark armor. He strode toward them with a confidant, almost cocky gait, igniting his double bladed lightsaber. The Jedi followed suit, but with a flick of his wrist the Dark Jedi flung the Jedi into the bulkhead. With a sickening crunch she slammed into the wall and collapsed to the deck. The Dark Jedi then turned to Trask and Ian, beckoning them to attack.

"Another Dark Jedi," stated Trask. "I'll handle him; you get to the escape pods."

He pushed Ian aside and entered the room with the Dark Jedi before Ian could protest.

"NO, don't be a moron, he'll kill you!" Ian yelled. But it was too late; an explosion caused the door to close and would not reopen.

He stood there in shock, wondering why this man would risk his life for him. A lightsaber cutting through the door snapped him out of his daze, Ian picked up the unconscious Jedi and he took off hobbling to the escape pods with the unconscious her. When he got close his communicator went off again.

"I'm reading your life signs on my display and you are the last survivor. You have to hurry up, I have one escape pod here but I can't wait. But be careful, there is a group of Sith in the next room." Said the Commander.

To be safe, Ian repaired the security droid to help fight. It proved to be well made droid: it managed to kill three of the Sith while Ian took care of the other two. And for his spoils, he found a nicely made vibrosword among the leaders corpse.

When he opened the next door, he was met by a couple blasters pointed between his eyes. Noticing he wasn't a Sith, as far as he could tell, Carth lowered his blasters and motioned for Ian to go into the escape pod.

Ian took a good look at the man who had just pointed a two blasters at him. Commander Onasi had a youthful look to him that was only marred by the few lines on his face. A career soldier, he was physically fit and his hideous orange jacket only slightly disguised his muscular form. His brown eyes expressed his desire to leave this ship and one would have to be blind not to notice the pain hidden with their depths. With some relief the Commander ran a hand through his brown hair, brushing back a couple unruly locks which just fell back a moment later.

"Come on. There's only one pod left and the ship is about to go!" said Carth.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Ian asked.

"I'm a Republic soldier," the Commander said. "But this is no time for a formal introduction, so if you don't mind we should get to the pod."

"Good idea."

Carth helped Ian get the injured Jedi into the escape pod before he too got in. Rocketing though space towards Taris, the pair could see the damage the Sith cause to the Spire. Concentrated turbolaser fire was aimed at the neck of the ship between the bridge and body of the vessel causing the two segments to blow apart from each other. The bottom left thruster took heavy fire and had exploded. There were many places where the hull plating had been punctured allowing the coldness of space to enter the ship and sucking a few Sith soldiers out into the void.

"Damn Sith, we just gave the _Spire_ a new paint job before this mission." said Carth trying to lighten up the mood. A few seconds later the ship started to break apart and explode into thousands of pieces.

Shortly after, the escape pod hit atmosphere and the passengers were rocked about. Looking out the view port Carth and Ian could see the burn up caused by entering Taris' atmosphere. The pod was heating up, not to a dangerous level, but enough to make the three occupants sweat. All the while everyone was jarred about as the pod descended. It took only a couple more seconds to crash into the planet. The impact roughly tossed the three about. Carth got a few bruises from the restraint digging into him and being forced back into the wall. The Jedi was already out of it and was pushed roughly into the side banging her right shoulder. Ian's head smacked into the plating rendering him unconscious.

Carth was left with the task of carrying his two crewmates away before any one showed up, especially Sith. He was able to lift the petite Jedi over one shoulder, but couldn't haul Ian over the other. Quickly making his way over to the first door he spotted, Carth set the Jedi down and ran back to drag Ian. Muttering an apology Carth dragged both of them into the building which was fortunately an apartment complex. He made his way to an apartment with a vacant sign on the door. After some fiddling, Carth was able to pick the lock. He brought them in and put both of them in one of the two beds in the abandoned apartment. Carth inspected the two prone forms and saw some bruising on the Jedi, so he injected her with kolto. As for Ian, he had a large gash right above his left eye and to his temple. After patching up the visible wounds they all had received, Carth watched the steady breathing of the two in bed and felt some relief.

"Welcome to Taris," he said feebly barely managing to get the words out. "Enjoy your stay--" he barely uttered the last word before the exhaustion kicked in and he collapsed on the floor.


	3. Welcome to Paradise

Bjrn Fallqvist: Thanks for the tip, I didn't know about that.

Alice the Raven: Glad you like it so far. I always liked the idea of the Jedi surviving, where I am going with it ... I'm not sure yet

AN: Here is the first part of Taris, it ended up being longer than I thought. Just made a couple changes, nothing major.

**Chapter 2: Welcome to Paradise**

In the morning Carth awoke feeling a little refreshed, but stiff and sore from sleeping on the floor. The first thing he did was check on the wounded; the Jedi had some electrical burns and bruises, but was healing. The man, named Ian, Carth discovered by reading her service record, had a nice lump on the back of his head. Overall, neither of them showed any signs of waking up any time soon. With a sigh, Carth cleaned himself up and went out to gather information on their current situation.

Over the next couple of days, Carth found out a few things that would cause some trouble for the mission. The Sith had declared martial law on the planet, and created a quarantine so no one could leave. Also, a couple sources claimed that some escape pods crashed in the Under City, but it is a dangerous place. Carth was told that he would have to first get through the Lower City and its violent swoop gangs, and then the Under City is supposedly plagued by an incurable disease. With the time he spent asking around, this was all Carth could find out. He didn't want to leave Ian or the Jedi alone for very long. He spent some of the few credits they had on medical supplies in order to help the women more.

It wasn't until the third day that things began to look up. Around mid-day Carth returned to the apartment after doing a little more scouting. He was about to lie down for a nap, but noticed Ian stirring. This was a definite improvement to his being completely motionless, but something wasn't right; he was more thrashing about than just stirring. Carth ran over to try and hold Ian to make sure she didn't hurt himself.

"Hey, wake up, what's wrong with you?" Carth said, while slightly shaking him

_Where was he, on board a ship? Yes, that's it, a ship. What is going on here? A Jedi with chestnut hair pulled back into twin braids ignited a yellow lightsaber and confronts a Dark Jedi. They both swing the deadly blades of light at each other and they're weapons clash in an eruption of sparks. For about a minute the two adversaries parried each other's attacks, until the Jedi found an opening and struck down her opponent. She stared ahead at something that could not be seen; a look of grim determination on her face._

_There is conflict_

Ian woke up with a start, knocking Carth onto the floor.

"AHHH" he cried

"Wha … what ..." Ian stammered, breathing heavily after the nightmare

He was covered in a cold sweat, making his clothes stick, also the back of his head throbbed. Pushing some hair out of his eyes, Ian took in his surroundings. He was in a strange apartment with an unconscious woman on a bed and a man picking himself up off the floor. Ian just stared at him quizzically, since he did not know what was going on and his memory was a little fuzzy. After a few moments Carth decided to break the silence.

"It's good to see you awake instead of thrashing about in your sleep" He said, "That must have been one hell of a nightmare" _Great introduction Onasi, don't mention your name, or ask if he is ok; Idiot._

"Y … yeah, it was. Who are you?" Ian asked, still unsure of what was going on and a little messed up from the hit to the head

"I'm Carth Onasi, the communicator on the Spire, remember?"

"Right, how's the Jedi" pointing to the young woman on the bed.

"Well, she's still out. She was in worse shape than you"

"About that, how did I end up here?"

"You missed a bit while you were unconscious, I'll fill you in"

Carth proceeded to tell Ian about the events that led them all too where they were. Also, he explained the situation with the Sith and the blockade. But, the first thing they had to worry about was finding Bastila, since she was key to the Republic was effort. Plus, Carth mentioned how useful the linguistic skills that Ian had will be and the Jedi would be a big help if she woke up.

"So we should head out and start looking for Bastila" said Carth

"Bastila?" _That name means something to me, but what?_

"You know, the Jedi with Battle Meditation and was the commanding officer on the Spire"

"Of … of course, yeah I remember her, the snooty brat." _So she was my commanding officer, it just feels like she is more than that, but what?_

"Hey, you ok? You seem to be drifting off there."

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine."

"Alright, we should be heading out soon and we should get you to a doctor just to be in case."

"Sure, but can I clean up first. I feel like shit."

"Fine, but make it quick."

While Ian took a shower, Carth read over Ian's service record more carefully. It was surprisingly vague, which really irritated Carth. The only information given was; name, age, home planet, some skills and previous occupation. Dissatisfied with this, Carth decided to take a look through Ian's bag. Inside he found some medpacks, frag grenades and two lightsabers. Carth ignited the weapons, one was a lavender blade and the other was red.

"Great, a smuggler who for some reason carries lightsabers" Carth said sarcastically

_Who is this guy? And what the hell is he doing with lightsabers?_

"He better have a good explanation for this, I hate surprised damn it"

At that, Ian came out of the shower and saw Carth with the lightsabers. Bristling with anger, Carth spun around and pushed Ian roughly into the wall.

"So, care to explain the lightsabers?" Carth fumed

"Just a couple souvenirs from the Spire." Ian said with a grin

"This isn't some kind of joke. I want answers, and I want them NOW." For emphasis, Carth shoved Ian into the wall again.

"Hey, back off. You'll get your damn answers." Ian said, becoming annoyed with Carth's attitude, "I wasn't kidding when I said I got them from the Spire. One belongs to the Jedi over there, and the other belonged to the Sith she killed."

This answer seemed to placate Carth for the time being. "Alright, fine, but I'll be watching you."

"You do that" Ian responded as he headed out the door. _Suspicious bastard._

After walking a little way down the circular hallway, the pair saw a Sith patrol harassing a group of aliens. Two Duro in particular had drawn the Sith's ire by arguing the raid. Neither Carth, nor Ian could make out what was being said, but both knew that things would go bad. No more than a couple seconds later did the Sith captain fire a couple bolts into the chest of one Duro. He was about to shoot the second Duro, but Carth could not stand idly by.

"Hold it right there Sith" Carth spat, point both of his blasters at the Sith captain

"Oh shit" Ian muttered under his breath. He pulled out a vibrosword anticipating the upcoming fight.

"What's this, don't like the Sith do we?" commented the Sith, "Wait, they must be Republic fugitives, attack." With that, four battle droids turned from the aliens to attack Ian and Carth.

Carth ducked into an open room and Ian dropped to the floor, rolling out of the way. When there was a break in blaster fire, Carth would poke out and get off a few shots before he had to hide again. Ian found a plasteel barrel to hide behind and got his own blaster warmed up. While all the fire was concentrated on Carth, Ian took a well aimed shot at one of the droids hitting it in the head. Unfortunately, the platting was to strong for on shot to destroy the droid, so it just turned to blast at Ian. Carth managed to get a few more shots off amid the constant blaster fire; the Sith captain was killed and the damaged droid was finished off. A couple of the, now forgotten, aliens took up the dropped blasters and helped destroy the remaining three droids.

The surviving Duro went over to the pair, relieved to still be alive. "Thank you humans," said the Duro, "I did not expect anyone to help us, let alone humans." Carth could only make out a little of that, but Ian understood completely.

"We were glad to help" said Ian, "We should move the Sith out of sight"

"Yes, good idea human" the Duro began to move the Sith and took a brief glance towards his friend, "Ah, I wish Ixgal could have kept quiet"

"I'm sorry about your friend, but we should be going"

Ian and Carth helped the Duro hide the remains of the Sith before they headed out. Leaving the apartment building, Ian was presented with the view of Taris Upper City. Called the Coruscant of the Outer Rim, Taris was a planet with giant spire like buildings cover the majority of its surface. There were spires as far as one could see; the light reflected off the sliver durasteel buildings creating a blinding glare. The way some buildings refracted the light to make rainbows was quite impressive. One could hardly tell that this was a planet on the decline, with such a view.

"So where do we begin this search?" Ian asked

"I though the cantina would be a good place" suggested Carth, "Plus, we can get something to eat"

"Good idea"

A short walk from the apartment building was a cantina. It wasn't the nicest of places, like those for the super rich, but this was still Taris' Upper City. Most of the patrons were snobby Tarisians, with a few stranded off worlders and the occasional off duty Sith. Carth and Ian were mistaken for waiters only three times before they found a table. They ordered drinks and deliberated on what to do next.

"I don't see anyone that would have useful info" Carth said, "And we still need to improve our situation with credits"

"How about Pazaak, we could win some credits" Ian suggested

"Too risky, I don't know about you, but I'm horrible at Pazaak"

"Yeah, I suck at it too" said Ian dejectedly, "So, that's out"

"Hey Ian, I got a question for you"

"That's nice"

"Come on, this is serious" Carth said, slightly irritated, "I want to know your thoughts on the attack, what your perspective was"

"What is there to know; the Sith attacked, Trask and I fought through the ship before he was killed, and I carried the girl to the escape pods"

"I guess, but isn't it a little curious that you, someone specifically hired at the last minute by the Jedi, survived the crash?"

Ian raised his eyebrows at this. "How is that curious? Do you wish I hadn't survived?"

"No that's not what I mean, of course I'm glad you lived, you'll probably be a big help. But anything concerning the Jedi is never straightforward, and it's just a little suspicious."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know; it could mean everything, or nothing."

"Here you are, suspicious of Jedi and yet you're as cryptic as one," said Ian, becoming increasingly angry, "Are you trying to blame me for the Spire, because I had nothing to do with it."

"Maybe, maybe not. But like I said, I'm going to keep an eye on you."

"Are you always this suspicious of people you work with?"

"I've just learnt not to take things at face value."

"Well, I'm not going to betray you, but don't let my word for it get in the way of your paranoia."

The two sipped at their drinks in silence, making sure they last, trying to come up with a plan. It was then, that Ian noticed a lone female Sith; it was obvious that she was Sith, the way most people stayed away from her. "Hey, I got an idea. Stay right here." Carth was about to question Ian, but he was already gone.

Ian approached the young Sith, with his Corellian Brandy in hand. Quickly, he opened her up to find out that her name was Sarna and she was a junior officer. A few more minutes of flirting, where Ian repressed a shudder; and it seemed that Sarna would give some useful information. Instead, she announced that she had to leave for her shift, but not before inviting Ian to a Sith party in a couple of days.

"I'd love to see you there" said Sarna sweetly

"I'll try to make it" Ian said, giving one of his best flirtatious smiles

"Its right after our shift, so some of us won't have time to lock up our uniforms." Sarna explained, "Well, I don't want to be late"

"See you then"

Later handsome" she said as she left

When Ian got back to the table, Carth just stared at him suspiciously. This went on for about a minute before Ian couldn't take it any more.

"What?" he snapped

"What were you doing with that Sith woman?" asked Carth, not trying to hold back his suspicion

"I was just trying to get some info, that's all" said Ian defensively

While this was believable, it wasn't enough to quench Carth's suspicious nature. "Alright then, what did you find out?"

"Nothing useful, but I was invited to a Sith party" Ian smirked

"You WHAT?" Carth's voice was rising considerably, drawing some attention

"Whoa, calm down, I though we were supposed to keep a low profile"

"Calm down, calm down. We are trying to avoid the Sith, and here you go flirting with them and get invited to a party" Carth accused

"Hey, I'm trying to help out. If you don't like the way I do things I might as well leave"

"No, no, wait. Let's here this plan you have"

"Fine, but stop getting in my face with the accusing tone, like I have done something wrong. Got it?"

"Fair enough. I just don't know much about you and I don't trust easily"

"Whatever. Okay, about that party. Well, I figure booze will be abundant, and a bunch of drunk Sith are likely to spill something." Ian said with a grin, "And if not; Sarna, the Sith woman, said something about not locking up uniforms. We could always _borrow_ a couple of them, they might come in handy."

"Interesting plan; it might work. So, when is this party?"

"Not for a couple days, so in the meantime we can work on getting credits"

After finishing their drinks, Carth and Ian looked around the cantina for some way to make credits. The first couple of rooms proved to be worthless, but the last room they checked seemed promising. At the back of the room was a Hutt; it was impossible to miss due to its size and smell. The slimy, tan and green creature was surrounded by a group of people inspecting various weapons. Lining the walls on both sides were numerous monitors with a crowd of people watching. Curious to what this was about, Ian and Carth went over to one of the less crowded monitors. The screen showed two men fighting in some sort of arena; and that's when an idea hit them.

"A dueling arena could be a good way to get credits" Ian said, making his way toward the Hutt

Carth grabbed Ian's arm, and pulled him back. "No you don't; you're still injured, you are not fighting."

"We need the credits" stated Ian plainly, as he pulled his arm free, "Plus, I fought just fine earlier"

"Yes, we do need the credits, but you still aren't fighting" said Carth stubbornly, "There is no need for you to take unnecessary risks; I'll do it."

"You'll fight?"

"I may not like it, but yeah, I'll fight"

They made their way to the Hutt, named Ajurr, and worked out a deal to let Carth fight. Ajurr promised them that no one could die in the arena, due to fields that suppress the damage weapons can do. He also promised Carth ten percent of the earnings from each fight he won; try as they might to increase the amount, it would take a miracle to get more credits from a Hutt. All that remained was to make an interesting dueling name.

"You are a stranger to these parts, no?" said Ajurr in his native tongue, "How about the Mysterious Stranger?"

After having it translated for him, Carth did not have a problem with that name, but Ian had other ideas. "Nah, that's too plain, how about Captain Paranoid?" This earned an irritated glare from Carth.

"No good; okay, Blaster Boy, that has a nice ring to it" Ian suggested with a wide grin. Carth was becoming annoyed by these names, but Ajurr decided to go with it.

"It is a strange name, but Blaster Boy will work fine." With this, Ian could not contain his laughter and the look on Carth's face after hearing the news made Ian laugh even harder.

"You'll pay for this" Carth hissed

"Sure I will … Blaster Boy" Ian managed between fits of laughter

Carth, a.k.a. Blaster Boy, was taken through a back door down to the arena. The matches were set up for three today and two tomorrow, with an hour in between each match. For the first duel, Carth had to face an older man with the nickname, Deadeye Duncan. It wasn't a very challenging fight; the man could barely keep a hold on to his blaster. Deadeye got off a few shots that didn't even come close to Carth; Carth just took a well aimed shot at Deadeye's head and he went down, stunned. The second duel was against Gerlon two fingers, who also favored a blaster. He was a much better shot and had the look of being an old pro; without the hand injury he would have been a challenging adversary. As it was, Gerlon had some well placed shots, but Carth dodged them without too much trouble. Carth attempted the same tactic of taking a well aimed shot, but Gerlon was more agile than Duncan and was able to avoid being hit. So, instead, Carth opted for rapid fire from both his blasters; this was too much for Gerlon, not being as young as he used to, and he soon went down. The third match was a challenge for Carth; he went up against a woman called Ice. Just looking at her one could understand the name; her face held absolutely no emotion only determination to win. Ice was much younger than both Duncan and Gerlon, and was a great deal more agile. Charging at Carth with a vibrosword, Ice dodged left and right quickly not letting Carth get a lock on her. He managed a few grazing hits before she got within melee range, and Carth had to drop the blasters for a vibrosword Ian let him use. Here, Carth was at a disadvantage; he could fight with melee weapons, it was in his basic training, but he always felt safer with a blaster in his hand. The two exchanged a few blows, but Ice was getting the upper hand; Carth was getting tired and took a blow to his left arm leaving it numb. Sure about her victory now, Ice became overconfident and went more on the offensive. Nearing the end Ice lifted her blade high planning to make a horizontal cut toward Carth's neck; but Carth saw an opening and took it, he dropped to his knees and the attack went over his head. This move left Ice's midsection undefended and Carth made a strong jab right bellow her ribs, felling his opponent.

Ian watched the three matches intently, gauging Carth's ability the whole time. The first two fights didn't give Ian much to go by, but the third duel impressed him. Even though he didn't know how well Carth could fight with vibroswords; it seemed that he wasn't great with them, but still managed to win the fight against a talented duelist. After the fight was over, Ian wondered how he would do against Carth in a duel.

Thankful that those three matches were over, an exhausted Carth came out of the arena to get his credits. He got six hundred for his efforts today, and would have to come back for two more duels tomorrow. Spotting Ian, Carth motioned for him to follow. The pair headed out of the cantina and went to the medical facility for some much needed healing.

"That was some nice fighting today" said Ian while they walked

"Eh, it was nothing" Carth said, waving a hand to blow off the comment.

They finally made it to the medical facility after walking down a few streets and taking a wrong turn down a dead end street. The doctor was an older man, probably a few years past middle aged, with dark skin. He was very accepting, saying how he, Zelka Forn would not turn anyone away. Carth got his wounds checked out and patched up, and he made Ian get is head looked at while they were there. The tests Zelka ran showed that Ian suffered a mild concussion, but it was easily treated. Zelka bragged that he could heal anything; anything that is besides that damned rakghoul disease. Their curiosity piqued, the pair asked what the rakghoul diseased was. Zelka informed them, that it was a mutating disease that turned people into mindless beasts and there was no cure; but the Republic may have been onto something before the Sith arrived. Sith patrols were rumored to have some, since they went down to the Under City where the rakghouls dwell. Ian and Carth made their way out after mentioning that they would keep a look out for the rakghoul serum. They tried to pay for the treatment, but Zelka would have no of it; so instead they bought some medpacks. Before they could leave they were stopped by a younger dark skinned man.

"Hey, you, I heard you talkin about the rakghoul serum with Zelka." Said the man

"Yeah, what of it?" Ian questioned

"You could make a nice chunk of credits off that serum"

"Really?" Ian looked somewhat interested. They could always use more credits.

"Yep, all you need to do is give it to a Hutt in the Lower City, named Zax" the man explained, "Zax works for Davik Gang, and will pay a lot to control that serum."

Ian was tempted by this offer, wondering how far some more credits would get them to escaping this planet. Carth, on the other hand, wasn't going for it. "Yeah, and then only the rich could afford the cure" he said in a disgusted tone

"So, what" looking back to Ian, "Just tell Zax Gurney sent ya."

With that, the two made their long trek back to the apartment. It was getting late, and they had a long day; Ian still wasn't fully recovered and Carth was exhausted from dueling.

"You weren't seriously thinking about giving the serum to that Hutt?" said Carth, a little upset, "If we find it, that is."

"I don't know. We could use the credits."

"Yeah, but at what cost?"

Back at the apartment, the unconscious form on the bed began to stir. Mya Saer sat up in bed with a groan, amazed that she was still alive. The last thing she could remember was killing a Dark Jedi aboard the _Endar Spire_ and then extreme pain. Mya had barely survived the electrical discharge from the exploding power conduit. For the past few days she was recuperating with a combination of kolto and a Force healing trance that she falls into when in critical condition; so she had been in a self-induced coma while healing. The kolto may have been enough to save her, but it was the Force healing that helped Mya recover quickly. After her eyes adjusted to being used for the first time in days; Mya was able to take in her surroundings. She was in some strange two bed apartment alone. It was a rather plain place; the walls were white and the floor a grey carpet. There was a table in the middle of the room with a few chairs, a workbench against one wall for some reason, and two doors, one leading to the refresher.

"How did I end up here?" Mya muttered, brushing a hand across her eyes

Since she didn't have any plans right now, Mya decided to make use of the refresher to clean up. Before she even got up from the bed the apartment door opened allowing two scruffy looking men to enter; one of whom seemed to be in pain. Both stopped a few feet inside the door and just stared at Mya. Instinctively Mya's hand dropped to her belt for her lightsaber, but found it missing. Not letting this get to her, Mya jumped up from the bed and took a defensive stance to protect herself from her apparent captors.

_Pfft, so these are the ones who thought they could take advantage of a Jedi, they don't look very threatening._

Carth and Ian exchanged glances, and then turned back to the petite Jedi before them; at best she was 5'4, maybe 5'5. She just stood there looking ready for a fight, despite the fact she recently woke up from being unconscious for three days. The two men took a minute to look over the young woman, not having paid much attention to her before besides giving her more kolto. She must have been about the same age as Bastila. She had raven hair that was currently a tangled mess, emerald green eyes that were slightly covered by her hair, and pale skin that contrasted with her dark hair. Still donned in her tattered and burnt robes, the Jedi was quite a sight standing their ready to fight.

"What's wrong, you two afraid of little old me now that I am awake?" said Mya, giving the two a mocking smile

Ian and Carth just broke out laughing. Being the first one to regain his breath, Carth spoke up first. "Now just calm down, we aren't here to fight" he said, while slowly moving closer to the young woman with his hands up showing that he didn't want to fight.

"Calm down, you two kidnapped me while I was unconscious and planned to do Force knows what to me" she said in a slightly angry tone

"Hey, now just let us explain" Carth kept walking towards the Jedi, until he was within an arms length

"Yeah, you have a lot of explaining to do" she said right before grabbing Carth's arm and ,with unexpected strength, flipped him over her back by sticking out her hip for leverage. Carth landed on the floor with a loud crash and a grunt of pain.

Ian winced, knowing how much pain Carth was already in. He had to say something to placate the Jedi before she hurt Carth any more. She still held Carth's arm, but now she placed a foot in the area between his shoulder and neck; putting pressure with her foot while pulling on Carth's arm, she could easily dislocate his shoulder.

Being a smugger, Ian lacked tact, but it might be needed. "Umm … Lady Jedi, could you not beat the shit out of Carth anymore?"

Mya halted before dislocating the man's shoulder, but did not release her hold on his arm. "Alright, just who are you two?"

"I'm Ian Verik, and the man you so kindly flipped over is Carth Onasi"

"Ugh … Hi. I'd ask how you are feeling, but apparently you are in beet shape than I am"

"Commander Onasi? Oh Force, I'm so sorry, let me help you" Mya helped Carth up and got him sitting on the bed she previously occupied. "Sorry about attacking you, I'm a little confused, and before I forget, the names Mya Saer."

"I can understand the confusion, but couldn't you let us explain ourselves before you decided to attack me?" Carth said, a little irritated by the Jedi

"Yes, I should have. My master always told me to be more patient and not let emotions get the better of me, I'm sorry"

"It's okay, so I guess we'll have to get you up to speed on what our situation is"

Carth proceeded to tell Mya where they currently stood in the search for Bastila. While he did that, Ian went out to obtain some more supplies. They may have just gotten a bunch of credits, but he didn't want to spend them all already, so he decided to check out a couple of apartments. The first one he went in didn't have much of value, just a few credits and some clothes that Mya might be able to use. The second one was better; it had some more credits and a couple vibroswords. Ian was just about to leave when the owner of the apartment came back; a man about Carth's age in good physical condition.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing here?" the man snapped angrily

Caught by surprise, Ian struggled to come up with an excuse. "Sorry, I … I got lost"

"Ha, I don't think so pal" said the man, and he promptly went over to Ian and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.

Ian still a little stunned was sluggish in his response to the attack. Standing up earned him a quick uppercut to the chin, knocking him back to the floor. Getting up for the second time, Ian was more prepared to fight taking up a boxing stance. The two men exchanged blows for a matter of minutes and they both sported a black eye. Ian was gaining the advantage with fast blows that the other man didn't have time to counter, but the man took a cheap shot kick to Ian's knee. On the way down Ian received a right hook to the head for good measure. All the while during the fight, Ian was becoming increasingly angry, at himself for being beaten like this and at the man for attacking him. While Ian was on his knees the man came down with another blow and Ian put up his hands to stave off the attack; instead bolts of lightning shot out from Ian's fingers turning the man into a charred husk.

"Wha … what the hell was that" said Ian, shocked at what happened. He looked at his hands for a moment, then grabbed the stolen items and hurried back to the apartment.

Back at the apartment Carth had finished filling Mya in on the details of their mission, just before he had finished Mya felt a disturbance in the Force. When Ian walked in both of them looked at him wondering why he was bruised.

"Hey, what happened will you were out, I didn't think buying supplies was a dangerous task?" Carth said, chuckling

"Well, I didn't _buy_ supplies exactly"

"You stole supplies" Mya said, astonished, "How could you?"

"Well, we are still short on credits and I didn't want to waste them already"

"Come on, I won 600 earlier, I think we have enough"

"You never know" said Ian, "Plus, Mya, I found some clothes for you"

"I'm still upset you stole them, but they will have to do. Let's see them"

Ian held out a low cut top that would show more cleavage than was necessary and a mini-skirt that would be well above mid-thigh on her.

Mya's eyes widened at the sight. "NO WAY," she said glaring at Ian, "You couldn't do any better than that?"

Ian laughed at the response from the young Jedi. "I thought it was worth a try, here, you might like these better." He pulled out a white, button up shirt, a brown leather vest and brown leather pants.

"Yes, those will do just fine. Thank you." Said Mya, she headed to the refresher. Carth and Ian thought they heard her mutter something about lewd men.

Half an hour later Mya came out cleaned up and dressed in her new outfit that, surprisingly, fit perfect. "Do either of you have my lightsaber?"

"I took it and the Sith's lightsaber from the Spire" Ian answered

"Good, can I have it back?"

Carth spoke up at this. "Carrying around a lightsaber would be a bad idea, you don't want to let everyone know that you're a Jedi."

"Hmm, good point, are there any other weapons I can use?" At this Ian handed Mya the two vibroswords he found. "Thanks. Okay, lets go" she said cheerfully.

"Wow, she's quite happy all of a sudden" Ian whispered to Carth

"Yeah"

At the cantina Carth was going to finish the couple matches he had at the dueling arena. Before he could do that, Ian went over to Ajurr and signed up to fight also.

"You WHAT?" Carth said angrily after Ian told him about the duel. _I think I am going to be saying that a lot during this mission._ "You do know this means we will have to fight each other?"

"Yeah, so what? It could mean more credits."

"But it's also another match that one of us will have to fight. Grr, let's just get this over with."

Ian and Carth went down to the arena to fight, leaving Mya alone to watch the match. Even though Carth didn't want to fight Ian, he saw a chance to pay him back for the ridiculous dueling name. Carth taped into some of his anger from that and used it for the fight. The fight was going on for many minutes and Mya didn't feel like watching anymore, she wasn't a fan of dueling.

"Men and their egos" she muttered making her way over to the bar.

She had only sat there for a few seconds before some man sat next to her. He wasn't very good looking and had a repulsive aura about him.

"Hey babe, I haven't seen you around here before. Can I buy you a drink?" he said, flashing Mya a smile

"No thanks" she said, noticing the smell of alcohol on the man's breath

"Oh, but I insist." And he proceeded to order an Alderaanian Ale for her.

She just frowned and ignored the drink when it came, hoping that Carth and Ian would be done soon.

"What's wrong babe? Not having a good time, I can fix that" the creep said, putting an arm around Mya's shoulders.

"Get off me" she said, pushing at the man

"Come on, we could have some fun" he said, pulling her tighter.

She was about to use a mind trick to make him leave when Ian and Carth showed up, both covered with new bruises. Noticing the predicament Mya was in, Carth went over to help her.

"Hey, is the guy bothering you honey" Carth slightly winced with the last word, but no one seemed to notice.

Mya narrowed her eyes, but went along with it. "Yes he is" she spat

"Whoa, whoa, she's with you? Sorry, I'll look somewhere else"

"That would be smart" said Carth.

"Thanks" Mya said after the man had left, "Honey, huh? So, should I kiss you for saving me?" she said with a smirk.

Carth chuckled at this. "A kiss? Isn't that against the Jedi code."

"Well, I forgot to bring my Jedi handbook"

Checking the time, Ian noticed it was about time they headed to the Sith party. "Umm … as fun as this is, we should be going."

The three made their way through Taris' Upper City trying to follow the map to the apartments in the northern section in their part of the city. After taking a wrong turn and getting lost a few times, they finally found the apartment building. Inside, all they had to do was follow the sound of the music which was pounding through the whole floor. Ian was only fifteen minutes late, he was about to enter but remembered that Carth and Mya couldn't come with him.

"Ah, you two have to wait out here"

"And why is that?" said Carth, becoming suspicious again

"Because Sarna thinks I am coming alone, plus I doubt you would enjoy yourself" Ian said suppressing a smile

"Are you suggesting I'm too old to party"

"Hey, I'm not the one who said it" said Ian while he went to the door of the apartment.

"Fine, we'll wait out here"

Mya and Carth stepped to the side so they would be out of sight, while Ian went into the apartment with the Sith woman.

"Your late, I wasn't sure if you were going to show" said Sarna, slightly pouting

"Better late than never, right?"

"Right" she said brightly, instantly perking up, "Here want some Tarisian Ale?"

"Sure" Ian said, taking the glass from Sarna

"Hey, be careful Sarna. This ale is quite strong, we don't want to pass out too early" said a Sith man

"Yeah, I guess your right, but it's not like it matters; we're off tomorrow."

For the next few hours, Ian had to talk and dance with Sarna. In between dancing, they would talk and drink; Ian only had a couple, but Sarna downed the ale like it was water. Looking around, Ian noticed that all the other party goers were drinking just about as much as Sarna. After a couple hours people started passing out. Ian tried to get Sarna to say something useful, but he couldn't get anything out of her. All she was interested in was flirting with Ian. About four hours into the party, Sarna started making more advances toward Ian; but when she finally tried to kiss him, she also passed out.

In the hall, Carth and Mya got bored so they decided to get to know each other better.

"So, Carth, care to tell me a bit about yourself" Mya asked

"You want to know about me, huh?" said Carth, "Alright. I've been a pilot for the Republic for years and have seen much war, too much. The Mandalorians were bad, but these Sith slaughter even more senselessly."

"But, where are you from? Don't you have a home to go to after this is over with."

Carth's eyes became distant as he spoke. "I don't have a home, not anymore. I was from Telos, the first planet the Sith bombed into submission. My task force arrived too late, there was nothing I could do to save them."

"I'm sorry Carth," said Mya sincerely, "Them, you mean the people of your home world?" _There is much pain and grief in him; anger too, I wonder why._

"Yes … ye, no. It's nothing," said Carth, quickly changing the subject, "Let me ask you a question. What was your take on the attack of the Spire?" Going into his routine to take the attention off him.

"My take? Well, we were caught be surprise and I had to fight through the ship to protect the other soldiers. Last thing I remember was killing a Dark Jedi before some extreme pain, and then darkness. Why do you ask?"

"It's just interesting that an unknown smuggler and a Jedi Padawan were the only two that survived."

"How is that? Are you saying that I shouldn't have survived?" said Mya, arching an eyebrow

"No, not at all. Your abilities will be very useful here. I'm just saying, how do I know that the red lightsaber isn't yours?"

"What? I'm not a Dark Jedi, Carth." Mya said, becoming angry at Carth and his suspicion

"I've just learnt not to take things at face value"

"Listen here flyboy; I'm a Jedi, I'm no traitor."

"Jedi tend to give only half-truths, you can't trust them."

"Do you trust anyone?" said Mya, almost angry enough to start shouting

"Not if it can be helped."

"Well, you … no, never mind." Mya stopped herself before she lost control. _Suggest that I am a Dark Jedi, how dare he._

The two didn't talk for the rest of the wait. Carth just sat there, and Mya meditated trying to get rid of her anger. After a few hours Ian came out to tell them that the Sith had passed out. Mya walked in stomped in first, obviously angry about something. "So, Carth get you with his traitor deal too?" "He did the same to you? Great, what is Carth's problem?" The three searched the apartment for anything of value, especially any uniforms. It took a while, but Carth stumbled upon a closet filled with uniforms. They shuffled through them to find one that was close to each of their sizes; the toughest was finding one for Mya, most of the Sith were much taller than her. Once they found three that would be acceptable, they headed back to their apartment to get some sleep; they had an early day ahead of them.

Carth was up first, so he got food and caffa for the group. When everyone was up and had eaten, they worked on altering the uniforms so they fit.

"This helmet is too big, I can't see out it" Mya said

"Well, if you weren't so short, maybe you wouldn't have a problem." Carth teased

"I may be short, but I could kick your butt"

"Probably, but that wouldn't be very Jedi like"

"So don't push me, flyboy"

Carth couldn't help laughing at Mya's predicament. Even though she couldn't see, Mya walked right over to Carth and punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow … how'd you do that?" said Carth, rubbing his shoulder

"It's some little thing called the Force"

After they got all the uniforms fitting as well as possible, they made their way to the elevator to the Lower City. There, a lone Sith guard made sure people couldn't use the elevator, but he was rather lax with his job. He didn't bothering checking the group for identification, he assumed they were Sith and let them pass.

"Another patrol? You may pass, but be careful down there. Those swoop gangs will attack anyone, even us."

"Thanks for the warning" said Ian

With that, the three went into the elevator for the Lower City and were a step closer to finding Bastila.


	4. Welcome to Paradise Part II

**AN: I'm glad that a few people like it so far. I'm sorry this last chapter took so long, I was trying to figure out how I wanted it to work; mostly the dialog. I'll try to get new chapters in faster from now on.**

**Reviews would be nice.**

**Chapter 3: Welcome to Paradise Part II**

The elevator stopped and the door opened to let Carth, Ian and Mya out into sorry sight that was Taris' Lower City. It appeared similar to the Upper City, though lacking the cleanliness and the view of the sky. Down here it became more apparent that this was, indeed, a planet that was slowly decaying. The pathway from the elevator headed either right or left, but revealed the same scene; a labyrinth of halls lit by flickering lights, covered with litter and walls decorated with graffiti marking the territory if the many gangs that reside here.

Taking the left passage and staying on the main route, the trio stumbled upon a group of gang members facing off. In total there were about a dozen of them; one side was composed mostly of Trandoshans, violent beings whom enjoy killing others. The other group was an assortment of Humans and Rodians,

"This is Vulker territory; trespassers must pay toll, but Beks pay with blood." barked one of the Trandoshans

"Not today you Vulker scum." said a Human

"You don't get it do you, we own Lower City, you just don't know it."

With that, battle erupted. Vibroswords clashed and Blaster bolts flew by in all directions. Reinforcements for both the Beks and Vulkers came out of the maze of pathways. The number of combatants doubling; this battle was quickly going to turn into a blood bath.

Not wanting to get involved; Ian, Carth and Mya turned around to take the other path. As they started back the way they came a Vulker caught the glint coming off the Sith uniforms the trio still wore.

"SITH!" A Trandoshan shouted, getting the attention of all the gang members.

As much as the Beks and Vulkers hate each other, they hate the Sith even more. For the time being they worked together to kill the invaders of their planet, not knowing the three were not really Sith.

"Damn, RUN!" Carth barked, pulling Mya and Ian down one of the side paths

The trio ran straight for a while before taking a left and a quick right after that. They hoped to throw off the gangs chasing them by taking sudden turns. Looking behind him, Ian noticed that their actions were not working; only succeeding in getting them lost. At points the group would turn to fire a few shots at their pursuers. What they didn't count on is that the gang members know their way around Lower City and could find back ways to surround the three.

Taking another right turn, Carth, Mya and Ian were about to keep running, but were stopped by five gang members coming out of a passage to the left. Carth was quick with the reflexes, getting a couple shots off downing one of the hostiles. By then the other four were in attack mode, two with blasters and two with vibroswords.

Mya and Ian met the two brandishing swords with their own, while Carth handled the long range fighting. Fortunately the Sith armor could take a little beating, since Carth couldn't dodge every shot coming his way; a couple managed to graze his left arm and another hit his right leg. Carth was a much better shot and hit one of the thugs right between the eyes; the other one shifted his position so Mya and here opponent were in Carth's way. Risking a quick look back, Carth saw some of the thugs they were running from finally catch up.

"Hurry up over there, we got more company" Carth shouted, gritting his teeth and pumping shots into the arriving group.

"You got it" Ian called back, parrying a wild thrust by his opponent, to the left. This left the gang member's torso completely vulnerable, and Ian thrust his own blade into the middle of the thug's chest. After killing him, Ian charged the last guy with a blaster.

Mya was a little thrown off by the weight of the vibrosword; she was used to the weightlessness of a lightsaber. So the first few swings were to get used to the different weapon, giving her adversary a slight advantage. After getting accustomed to the blade, Mya pressed the issue. Their weapons clashed a few times before they came together and pushed against each other high, each trying to use their strength to push the other back. Not getting the advantage he wants, the thug pulls his sword back and swings it low at Mya from the opposite side of their little struggle. Countering, Mya brought her own blade down cutting off the thug's dominate hand creating a bloody mess.

As Ian reached the gang member with the blaster he got of one shot at Mya before he was decapitated. Sensing the blaster bolt through the Force, Mya dropped down on one knee letting the shot go over her head. While kneeling, she thrust her sword up into the gut of the maimed thug, thus finishing off the ambush.

'We're through here, lets go" called Mya

They took the path to the left where the small ambush came from. Stealing glances down a couple side paths the trio could see more gang members coming after them.

"Damn it, how many of them are there?" said Carth

"Too many," said Ian, "By the way, any idea where we are? It's a maze down here."

"Nope, sorry, I've been to busy running and fighting to be able to map the place out.' Said Carth dryly

"Well you're a big help …. Wait look" Ian said, pointing down a path to the right

Stopping, Mya and Carth saw what Ian was talking about, a door that led to an apartment building. Inside there were a few Black Vulkers patrolling the area; who were easily dealt with. The room they entered had a couple Vulkers in it, and they too were killed quickly. Once inside Carth shut the door and locked it. The three removed their Sith uniforms and stuffed them into their large packs. A few moments later they heard banging on the door.

"So, how do we get out of here?" Ian questioned

"No idea." Said Carth, "They really hate the Sith, don't they?"

"Well, how would you feel if the Sith invaded or attacked your home planet, Carth? Said Mya

Carth visibly stiffened at this statement and went to look for a means of escape a moment later.

_Sith; how stupid can I be? He already told me the Sith attacked his home and I go say something like that._

Looking around Ian noticed a window in the far wall of the apartment. "Wow, great view," Ian said sarcastically, "Who would put a window in here?

"Don't know, don't care. But, this is how we get out." Carth stated, taking his blaster and shooting the window out. "Alright, let's go."

Climbing out of the window into a new pathway, the group attempted to get their bearings. A little ways down the hall was another door, which the three immediately went to. It was a cantina, and deciding they needed something to drink after their excitement from earlier, they went in.

Obviously the designers on Taris lacked creativity; the apartments had the same circular design and the cantinas have the same cross shape. The few differences between the cantina here in Lower City and the one in Upper City, this one was dirtier and had more alien patrons.

The first room is filled with the Pazzak players and their groupies; having no interest in this, the group continued into the main room. Once they reached the entrance to that room a scene unfolded in front of them. Three aliens approached a diminutive man, who was wearing a blue coat covering armor, a white cap that went down over his ears, and a pair of goggles; he looked ridiculous. The aliens taunted the man for about a minute before he lost his temper. He threw a flash grenade to the floor and shot the aliens after the grenade went off, blinding all but him. When the flash faded the three aliens lie dead on the floor and the man was making his way out of the cantina. Carth and Ian gave the man a quick glance, impressed with his skill; Mya just ignored him, disgusted at how he just killed the aliens for no reason.

Stepping over the bodies, Ian, Carth and Mya went over to the bar for a drink and some information. The bartender didn't know much of anything, and the sentients in the cantina looked like they would be of little help. So they sat there sipping their drinks and trying to figure out what to do next.

"So, a glass of water Mya?" Carth teased, "You sure you don't want anything stronger?"

"No, water is fine"

"I bet a nice glass of Corellian Brandy could help you relax after that little fight out there"

"What's your point Carth?" Mya asked, exasperated, "Shouldn't we be looking for more information instead of relaxing?" Time was very important, and Mya knew this. They needed to get off Taris as soon as possible; and just sitting around wasn't helping. Plus, Mya preferred to be doing something then relaxing.

"Hey, even the best of soldiers need a little rest, and I'm far from the best" Carth countered.

"Suit yourself flyboy" she answered, tired of this, "So, Ian, any ideas?"

"Yeah, I think I saw a Hutt in the room across the way. I'm gonna go ask him a few questions"

"I'll come with you"

"Nah, that's ok. I can handle it." Ian said, flashing Mya a grin

With that Ian left to speak with that Hutt, leaving Mya and Carth alone. Neither of them said anything until Mya decided to apologies for what she said earlier.

"Hey, Carth. I'm sorry for saying that about your home, it was wrong of me."

"It's ok; it was four years ago, it's mostly behind me."

"Don't lie to me Carth, I tell that it's still bothering you. Want to talk about it?" _He is in a lot of pain; I hope I can help him. But he seems determined to keep it bottled up._

"No, not really. I'd rather get back to our mission" said Carth, trying to avoid the questions

"Well, we have some time while Ian talks to the Hutt, so a few questions can't hurt can they?" said Mya with a grin

"Do I get to return the favor?" asked Carth, wanting to know a bit more about the Jedi

"Sure. So, you ready?"

"I'm all ears beautiful"

"Is that really appropriate?" said Mya, raising a brow a little confused by Carth's behavior. _Beautiful? What's that supposed to mean?_

"Is there something wrong with that?" Carth asked, amused by Mya's reaction

"I'm a Jedi, I can't engage in relationships"

"Hey, I'm just teasing you" said Carth, chuckling, "If it makes you feel better you can call me something."

"Teasing me?" _So he doesn't think I'm beautiful, its all a joke. Why does that even matter, I'm a Jedi._ "This is ridiculous"

"Come on, give me your best shot" Carth goaded, "Are you afraid of hurting my feelings?"

_Force this man is irritating._ "You … pestering Mynock" Mya hissed

Carth just laughed. "That's it … you can do better than that" he said, smiling at her tauntingly.

Mya was practically seething by this point. "Will you just stop, you castrated wampa" she spat. _What is it about him that irritates me so?_

"Ooh, ouch. Well, beautiful doesn't sound so bad compared to that, does it?" Carth said, still chuckling, enjoying being able to annoy the Jedi. "But, I bet you still have those questions."

"Umm … yes I do." She said, a little thrown off by the sudden change in the conversation, "I was wondering what is bothering you; and you didn't finish from our last talk."

"Well, it was tough losing my home and that millions of innocents died; but it was worse than that," Carth began, getting a faraway look, "I had a … a wife and son on Telos. They didn't make it."

Mya wasn't really shocked by this information, but she still felt saddened by it. "I'm sorry Carth; I shouldn't have pried, I can see this still causes you much pain."

"Its alright, I guess I needed to talk about it." _Why? I haven't told anyone this in four years, why her? Is she using some mind trick on me?_

"Well, I'm glad you feel that you can confide in me." _Maybe it won't be so hard to get him to open up._

"Yes … well, now it's your turn." Carth said with a smirk

"What would you like to know?"

"How about where you are from. For starters."

"Well, I lived on Coruscant for a while before moving to Dantooine. But, I was originally from Corellia, before joining the Order."

"Ah. So, when did the Jedi take you away?"

"I was taken when I was five."

"Have you been back since?"

"Nope. In eighteen years, I haven't once gone home." She said, not liking the direction of this conversation. Even though it was against the way of the Jedi, Mya did miss her home; the little of it she could remember, anyway. "So, are we ready to get back to work?"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Inside the room with the Hutt were sentients from an assortment of species; Rodian, Twi'lek, Trandoshan and human, to name a few. They were all packing various weapons and were not the kind of sentient one would want to get acquainted to. Ian could tell they were bounty hunters, and that this must be where they hung out between jobs.

The Hutt that Ian was going to talk to, was none other than Zax; the contact who Gurney mentioned to him a couple days ago. He discovered that Zax worked for Davik Kang; a crime lord who controlled many things on this planet. From talking to the Hutt, Ian learned little about the escape pods that crashed in the Under City, but he did learn of how to make some extra credits; by taking on some bounties.

After getting the information for the bounties loaded onto his datapad, Ian returned to his companions at the table. Mya seemed to be pleased with his return, and stopped what she was talking about to address him. "So, find out anything useful?"

"Nah. The Hutt, Zax, didn't know anything about the escape pods." Said Ian, "He did offer me a way to make some credits."

"Oh really?" said Carth, perking up from the news, "How's that."

"Zax runs a bounty office and he put the details on my datapad; here look"

Mya and Carth took a few minutes to look over the datapad, taking in the information on the bounties. Mya was completely against killing people for money, she would have no part it in. On the other hand, Carth knew that they could use some more credits, even after their winnings from dueling. There were a few government contracts that didn't bother him, but the personal bounties put up by Davik Kang were a problem.

"Ian, were not going to kill these people are we?" he questioned

"Who?"

"Well, some of these people are criminals, but others are just innocents that got on someone's bad side. We're not going to kill them."

"No, of course not. We don't need credits that badly." Ian quickly dismissed the idea; _we shouldn't need the credits that badly_, "Hey, Mya, what do you think?"

"What do you think? I'm a Jedi, so I'm against it, no matter who you want to kill. If you guys are going through with it, count me out."

"Fair enough." Said Carth

The three sat at their table working out plans for a little while longer before another scene took place. A young looking, blue female Twi'lek was being harassed by three Rodians across the bar. They exchanged insults for about a minute, and then things look like they might become violent. Not wanting to see the Twi'lek hurt, Ian and Carth got out their blasters. There was no reason to worry though; the Twi'lek was heard to call "Big Z" and a Wookiee came to protect her from the Rodians. Moments later the Rodians ran away and the Wookiee went back to his meal.

After all the excitement was over, the Twi'lek made her way over to the bar and on the way back Carth complimented her on how she dealt with the thugs.

"Nice job back there, you really kept your cool." He said

"Thanks. Ya get used to dealin with those Vulkers livin down here." Said the Twi'lek, "Hey, I've never seen use before, you must be new"

"You got that right" said Carth with a smile

"I'm Mission Vao and over there is my pal Big Z" she said with a grin, "I guess we're your official welcome to Lower City."

"Yes you are. I'm Carth. This is Ian and Mya" he said, pointing to each of his companions.

"Well, if you need any help around here you can ask me" said Mission, with that almost permanent smile on her face.

"Yeah, I have a few questions" said Ian, "Who is this Davik Kang? And the guy we saw when coming in here?"

"Well, Davik owns a lot of Taris. He is head of the Exchange here. The other guy was Calo Nord, the famous bounty hunter. It's rumored he works for Davik."

"Alright thanks"

"You seem trust worthy. Do you know anything about the escape pods in the Under City?" Carth asked

"No, but the Beks might; their leader Gadon is a good guy. When you get to their hideout, just say Mission sent ya."

"Okay, we'll go talk to them"

Mission was about to leave, but Mya quickly stopped her. "Umm, one more thing before you go. Do you have a map for the Lower City; it's a maze down here."

"Yeah, sure" she said, and uploaded a map onto Ian's datapad. "See ya." Then she hopped off back to the Wookiee.

"Well, next stop the Bek's hideout"

The map proved to be very valuable; it would have taken them for ever to find the Bek's location. Though, they weren't very hidden as their full name implies; there were a couple guards standing in front of the entrance. When the group approached the guards blocked their way to the door.

"Hey, you can't come in here"

"Mission sent us" said Carth

"Did she now? Why didn't she come with you?"

"You'd have to ask her. Now can you let us in, we're in a hurry." Carth said, getting a little irritated.

"No, you can't. For all I know, you could be a Vulker spy."

_We don't have time for this. _"Just le …" Carth was interrupted by Mya putting a hand on his arm.

"I'll handle this." She said to Carth, and then turned to the guards. "You will let us in now, we are not a threat" with a little hand gesture and a bit of influence from the Force, the guards moved aside.

"You may enter, you are not a threat." The guard said in a slightly monotone voice.

"See" Mya said, giving her famous Corellian smirk

Inside the Hidden Bek hideout, it was bustling with activity; there were members doing various tasks. Against the back wall, near a door, was a desk with a dark skinned, middle aged man behind it. The three approached the desk, but were stopped by the man's personal body guard, a gruff, purple skinned Twi'lek.

"Hey, who are you? You can't just come in here and waltz right up to Gadon" she said, while aggressively pointing a blaster rifle at them.

"Zaerdra calm down, I doubt they are assassins. It would be foolish to try and kill me in the middle of my own hideout while surrounded by Beks." Said Gadon

Reluctantly, Zaerdra backed down, but still held her blaster rifle ready. "You can speak with Gadon, but I'll be watching you" she said, glaring at the trio.

"Thanks for the hospitality" said Ian, causing Zaerdra to narrow her eyes.

"So, who sent you and what do you wish to talk to me about?" Gadon asked

Being the leader, Carth explained the situation to Gadon. "Mission Vao sent us; she said that you may be able to help us. I'll be straight with you; we are with the Republic and we are searching for an ally that came down here in an escape pod"

Gadon furrowed his brow, trying to recall anything about escape pods. "Ah, yes. I heard about your escape pod. It crashed into the Under City, but the Vulkers already picked all the escape pods clean. If your friend was in it, they are now a prisoner"

"So, how do we go about rescuing her?"

"Her?" Gadon pondered, "I've heard that the Vulkers recently acquired a young female. I didn't know if that was the Republic soldier, but now I'm sure of it."

"Well, if they only think she is a soldier they may underestimate her" Carth whispered to Mya and Ian.

"I have some bad news for you," Gadon continued, "Your friend is being used by the Vulkers in a plot to take control of Lower City."

"What do you mean?" Carth asked

Even though Gadon's eyes were ocular implants, they still seemed to portray sadness as Gadon explained the situation. "A few years ago my second in command, Brejik, thought he should take command of the Beks after I crashed my swoop bike and damaged my sight. I didn't think he was ready, so he left and joined the Vulkers finding a way to overthrow their leader at the time. As the new leader of the Vulkers, Brejik wanted more power, control of Lower City and revenge against me. The past couple years have been a bloody war down here."

"And now are friend has someone been pulled into this war?" asked Mya

"Yes. An important thing to the gangs is the swoop races and the gang that wins gains a lot of respect." Gadon explained, "But the first race of the season is the biggest and most important. The prizes at this race play a big part; each gang participating puts something up and the winner takes all. Brejik is putting your friend off for a prize and if the Vulkers win, they can use her as a bargaining chip to earn the favor of the smaller gangs. With their support there will be nothing to stop Brejik from taking control of Lower City and destroying the Beks."

"So, where do we come in?" Carth asked

"Well, it has been a challenge these past few years beating the Vulkers. So we developed a new engine to give us an edge. The only problem is that the Vulkers somehow managed to steal it from us. I need you to break into the Vulker base and get the engine back."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Ian asked, annoyed with all the things they had to do to find Bastila

"There is a back entrance into the Vulker base that Mission Vao knows about. She can guide you to it."

"Mission?" Zaerdra asked incredulously, "She's only a kid, isn't this a little dangerous for her."

"She's survived down here for years Zaerdra, and its always dangerous." Gadon countered, "Plus, she knows the way around Lower and Under City better than anyone."

"Ok, we'll go back to the cantina and ask her to help us." Said Carth, "Thanks Gadon."

The three started to head out, but Gadon stopped them. "Wait a sec. If Mission isn't in the cantina, she will be in the Under City, she likes exploring down there. But there is a Sith guarding the elevator."

"We have some uniforms; we can use them to sneak by the guard."

"Not this one, he needs written consent for people to use the elevator; even other Sith soldiers. I just happen to have one of these forms that we got from raiding a Sith patrol."

"You're going to give it to us?" Carth asked, a bit skeptical, wondering what they would need to do to get the form

"No. I'll trade it to you for the uniforms."

"Fair enough." Said Carth, collecting the uniforms and giving them to Zaerdra, "What do you use them for?"

"We like to set up little ambushes for the Sith and these uniforms help."

"Nice plan. Well, thanks for all your help."

"Don't mention it. An enemy of the Sith is a friend of mine."

The three left the Vulker hideout and made their way back to the cantina. On the way there Carth took a look at his chrono.

"Hmm, I don't think it will be a good idea to do this stuff today." He said

"Why's that? Don't we need to move quickly?" asked Ian

"Yes, speed is an issue. But remember those rakghouls? I think we should buy some supplies and be well rested before we head to the Under City."

"That's a sound plan." Said Mya

They went back to the elevator for the Upper City, finding their way easier with the map. The Sith guard at the top only gave them a quick glance before returning his gaze to the rest of the people walking about.

On the way to the supply shop the trio saw an older man being harassed by human male and an Aqualish. As the they got closer they could here the old man call out for help and the two thugs demanding the credits he owed.

"I told you, I don't have enough credits. I can pay half now and I'll get the other half later." Said the old man

"Sorry, your payment is already late and Davik wants it all. I guess we will just have to take you to him, so he can make an example of you." Said the human

"No, please don't"

They weren't supposed to draw attention to themselves, but Mya couldn't stand there and do nothing. "Hey, leave the poor man alone."

"Is this such a good idea, we are trying to keep a low profile here" Carth whispered

"I can't them hurt this man" Mya said

"Oh and what are you going to do about it little girl?" The human sneered, and before she could respond he fired a shot at Mya catching her in the left arm as she tried to dodge it.

Carth quickly whipped out his blasters and took down the Aqualish. Ian charged the human and decapitated him while he was to busy trying to shoot Mya.

"Th … thank you." The old man stuttered, "But now what? Davik will just send more bounty hunters after me."

"Hey, you should have thought about that before you dealt with a crime lord." Said Ian

"Ian, surely we can spare a few credits to help him." Mya argued

"We may need them."

"Can't you spare a hundred credits?" the old man pleaded

"Of course we can" said Mya

"Wh … what? We can't just hand out credits like that." Said Ian

"Just give him the credits." Mya commanded

"Fine. But you are going to find a way to earn some more if we need them." Said Ian, a little annoyed at tossing credits around like nothing.

"Now I can pay off Davik. Thank you very much." Said the old man before he left

Finally reaching the supply store, they bought some things for their trip the next day; a few grenades, some extra medpacks and extra energy packs for their blasters. Also, Ian and Mya bought some light armor to wear since all they had was their clothing; Carth already had some Republic standard issue armor back at the apartment. After the shopping the three had an uneventful walk back to their hideout and slept.

**Taris: Day 5**

They woke up early, getting their caffa to help them completely wake up. Heading back down to the Lower City, their first stop was the cantina to see if Mission was there, but she wasn't. So, they made their way to the elevator to the Under City, where the Sith guard stopped them.

"You can't use this elevator citizen, it's off limits." He stated

"We have consent to use this elevator." Said Carth, handing the guard the form and hoping it worked.

The Sith took a minute to look it over thoroughly. "Okay, everything seems to be in order. Be careful down there, we have already lost three patrols."

"Will do, thanks." Said Carth, taking the form back from the guard.

The three entered the elevator and headed down to the surface of the planet.


	5. Welcome to Paradise Part III

**AN: Thanks to those who have reviewed the story, it motivates me to write faster. And I did promise to get this chapter done quicker than the one before.**

**Welcome to Paradise: Part III**

When the elevator opened there were immediately rushed by two youths in ragged clothing.

"Hey, this is our elevator. You gotta pay a toll for usin it." said one youth

"Yeah, five credits." Demanded the other

"What?" Ian asked, taken aback by the demands of these children, "Now you listen here kids, we …"

"Here you go." said Mya, interrupting Ian and tossing them twenty credits

Off to the side a slightly older female youth came running over. "Get outta here you two, leave them alone." She said berating the boys, "I'm sorry, we're not all like that."

"It's alright, don't worry about it." Said Carth, waving a hand saying to forget it

"It's just we don't want the Outcasts to look bad."

"Outcasts?" asked Carth, slightly confused

"We are outcasts, never aloud to leave this place."

"Your stuck down here?" asked Ian

"Yes. We can't even travel to the Lower City." The girl said sadly, "I have a question; the surface is it beautiful?"

"Yes, its quite lovely." Mya answered

"I thought so; I had heard stories from Rukil." The girl said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I never told you my name. I'm Shaleena."

"Nice to meet you." Said Carth, "You wouldn't happen to know where a blue, female Twi'lek named Mission could be?"

"No, I'm not sure where she could be. You could ask Gendar, he is the leader of the village; his tent is over there." Said Shaleena, pointing to a tent to the left of where they were standing.

"Who is Rukil?" asked Ian

"Rukil is the oldest Outcast, he is very wise and tells stories to us; like the one about the Promised Land." She said

"Promised Land?"

"It's a special place where the Outcasts will be able to live happy, but I know it's just a story." Shaleena said sadly.

"Well, we should be on our way. I'm sorry we don't have time to talk anymore." Said Carth

"Oh, okay. Well, I'll be around if you ever want to talk." She said with a weak smile

For the first time the three got a chance to really look around the Outcast village. They thought the Lower City look pretty bad, but this was horrific. The people had to live in small, torn tents and had to build many fires in order to keep warm and to see since light did not penetrate this far down from the surface. They had few supplies to live on, not much food and their clothing was rags. To top it off, they were caged into a small area making what little they had cramped in the space. Mya, Carth and Ian could not believe people had to live like this.

After their look around, the group headed over to the tent that Shaleena pointed out for them. Standing in front of it was what appeared to be a middle aged man with dark skin. It was clear that he was a leader, even with the poor situation the Outcasts have, Gendar stood proud and had a strong presence.

"Excuse me, but are you Gendar?" Carth asked

"Yes I am Upworlder, is there anything I can help you with?" said Gendar with gentle, yet commanding voice.

"Yeah. Have you seen a Twi'lek by the name Mission Vao?" asked Carth, "Also, have there been many other Upworlders down here recently?" he added as an after thought.

"Mission Vao, hmm, yes I have seen her. She and her Wookie friend like to explore the sewers past the gate over there." Gendar said, pointing to the main gate, "As for more Upworlders. There have been many soldiers lately, making patrols I assume. Is that all?"

"Yes, that is very helpful, thank you." Said Carth

"How did you become Outcasts?" asked Mya, curious to how all these people became trapped down here.

"Well young lady, the Outcasts were created by a situation that occurred a century ago." Began Gendar

"A century?"

"Yes. There was a minor civil war, the poorer people were upset with the way the wealthy were running things, only thinking about themselves. Well, the fight did not go as planned. The wealthy could afford better weapons and quickly won the battle. As punishment they took more control and sent the rebels down here never to return."

"But, why are all of you down here?"

"Another part of the punishment is that the descendants of those sent down here also may never leave."

"That's terrible, you shouldn't have to pay for the crimes of others."

"But that is the way it is; and I doubt it will ever change."

"Well, thank you again for the help Gendar, but we must be going." Said Carth

They were making their way to the main gate when they were stopped by an old man. He was gangly and his face was covered with wrinkles, it was a face that spoke of many hard years, but also much wisdom.

"Halt there Upworlders, I see the mark of destiny on you." The old man said the group

"We should be careful of this one, he seems to be a few Pazaak cards short of a deck." Carth whispered to Ian and Mya.

"Speak to me Upworlders, do you not wish to know what your fate may hold in store for you?"

"Who are you?" asked Ian

"I am Rukil, the oldest of the Outcasts."

"Okay, so what is this destiny that you were talkin about?"

"Ah, you are confused. That is understandable. I believe you to be the savior of the Outcasts."

"You think I am the 'savior of the Outcasts'?" asked Ian, skeptical about this assumption

"No, not just you, all three of you." Rukil explained, "You are a team, only together can fulfill your destiny."

The three looked genuinely confused by what Rukil was saying.

"What do you mean?" asked Carth

"Each of you possess different abilities and traits that will allow you to succeed. But I feel that there are more to come and aid you on your quest; but the three of you should be enough for the task at hand."

"What is this task you want us to do?" Mya asked

"I need your help to find the Promised Land." Rukil said, with a glint in his eyes

"Isn't that some children's story." Ask Ian, not interested in this insane task. All he wants to do is find Bastila, get off this shitty planet and then go to Nar Shaddaa and get drunk.

"Oh no Upworlder, the Promised Land does exist. Ancestors of mine were searching for it and I have recently found out that they may have found it's location." Said Rukil, "They had written down clues to finding the Promise Land in their journals, but both of them left the village never to return. I know the journals are out there and I want you to find them."

"We don't have time for a scavenger hunt." Said Ian, annoyed that this old man would waste their time with worthless tasks when they had more important things to do.

"Don't worry Rukil, we'll make time to look for the journals."

"Thank you Upworlders."

After that interesting discussion, Ian was ready for some action and he was quickly making his way for the gate; forcing Mya and Carth to jog a little to catch up.

"Mya, why did you say we would help him?" Ian asked

"After hearing Gendar's story, I thought that the Outcasts deserved a break." She said, "Plus, remember, I am a Jedi."

"Right. Thank the galaxy I'm not."

Approaching the gate they could see some commotion, there was a woman yelling at a man to open the gate. Further, past the gate, there was another man running for all he was worth; what he was running from was hidden in the shadows. When they got closer they could here what the woman was saying.

"Hurry Hendar, the rakghouls are gaining on you." She screamed, "Please, you must open the gate, he wont make it."

"I can't, the rakghouls we get in if I open the gate." The man said

"Please, I don't know how I will go on without him." The woman pleaded

"I can't." the man repeated, obviously dispirited by his choice

"NO" she cried, "Please hurry Hendar."

The man, Hendar was getting closer to the gate now, but the rakghouls were closing in on him; he would not make it to the gate in time. Coming out of the shadow, the group got their first look at a rakghoul. It was an ape like creature without the hair; also the rakghoul was white, slimy and sported large teeth and deadly claws. The hideous creatures were feral and mindless, existing only for the kill; their panting mouths open, giving a good view of their teeth and the venomous fluid dripping from them. Rakghouls were frightening creatures, regardless of the fact that a single scratch or bite that broke skin meant the transformation into one of them. For Mya they were twice as frightening, since they had a Force presences that she had never encountered before; the rakghouls were there, but they lacked the normal presence of mind that even the simplest of creature had. Normal creatures had a survival instinct to protect itself from attackers or run when its life was in danger; but these rakghouls were just murderous beasts.

"Lower the gate, we'll help him." Mya called over to the two standing by the gate

"I … I don't know, the rakghouls are getting to close." the man stammered

"Please, let them help Hendar."

"Alright, I'll let you through. But I'm closing it right after."

The three ran out to help the Outcast fend off the two rakghouls that were rapidly gaining on him. Carth fired at the closest on with his blasters, but even with his good aim the rakghoul was able to dodge most of the shots. The ones that did hit caused significant damage to the beast; its forward left arm had a bolt tear through the shoulder and forearm, slowing it down considerably. By the time it reached the Outcast a few more blaster bolts had wounded the creature even more, making it much easier for Hendar to hack away at it with his double-bladed vibrosword. The combination of Carth blasting the rakghoul and Hendar slashing it, soon killed the creature.

Mya and Ian fought the other rakghoul with their vibroswords, but they weren't very effective. The hide on the rakghoul was strong enough to protect it from most damage the weapon would cause. The two rapidly hacked at the beast, while dodging its claws and attempts to bite them. The rakghoul had many gashes along its body, leaking a greenish slime that one would assume was blood; but it was still coming on strong. Blood red eyes gave the rakghoul more of a demon appearance as it swung its claws at Ian and Mya. All of a sudden, the rakghoul backed up and pounced on Ian, knocking him to the ground. Try as he might to push the creature off, Ian couldn't get out of the rakghoul's hold and had to wait for Mya to do something. Seeing the trouble that Ian was having, Mya slightly tapped into the Force and shoved the rakghoul off Ian and onto its back. Not giving the rakghoul a chance to recover, Mya ran over to it and thrust her vibrosword into the beast's chest bringing a blood curdling scream from its throat. To finish it off, Mya then stabbed a soft spot in the rakghouls neck. The rakghoul collapsed to the ground gurgling slimy, green blood flowing from the wound in its neck and a bit from the mouth; after a couple spasms the creature lay still.

"Well that was fun." Said Ian sarcastically, "Thanks for the assist, Mya."

"Your welcome."

After defeating the rakghouls, the group, including Hendar, ran back through the gate and into the village. Everyone, besides Carth, suffered a few bruises and torn clothing, but nothing that would infect them with the disease. Hendar went over to the woman who was pleading for his survival and took her into a tight hug.

"I'm so happy you made it back Hendar." She said, kissing Hendar, "If it wasn't for these Upworlders you might not have made it."

"I wouldn't have made it Hester." He said, "Thank you Upworlders, if I had anything to give you I would."

"That's alright, you living is enough." Said Mya

The two Outcasts walked off, leaving the three to prepare themselves for the rakghoul infested area. Ian and Mya took kolto shots for their bruises, while Carth checked the charge left in his blasters.

"Alright, we'll have to avoid those rakghouls as much as possible." Said Carth

"It'll be hard." Ian said, "Hopefully Mission will be easy to find."

Heading back out into the large field they looked around before deciding where to go. Straight ahead there were the remains of an escape pod; girders and scraps of metal strewn about around the crash site.

"Lets start looking over that way." Carth said, pointing to the escape pod

Walking around the chunks of metal, the group made it to the escape pod with out seeing a rakghoul. Searching the immediate area, the trio didn't find anything of value. They thought someone might be hiding in the escape pod, so they checked that out next. Indeed there was someone in there, but not the Twi'lek, it was a human male in a Republic uniform. He was huddled into far side of the escape pod, rocking back and forth.

"Are you alright soldier." Ask Carth

"Th … the demons are out there, its not safe." He said

"I think he means the rakghouls." Said Mya

"Thanks for the clarification." Said Ian

In response Mya stuck her tongue out at Ian.

"Real Mature; I didn't think Jedi acted like that."

"Humph." She pouted

"Come on soldier, come out here and lets get you some kolto."

"No, there's no time. They could be back at any time." The soldier said, while climbing out of the escape pod and looking around frantically.

"Did any of the rakghouls bite you?" Carth asked

"There's no time." He said again, this time he took off for the gate

"NO, wait!" Carth ordered, but the soldier didn't listen

Approaching the last pieces of girder and metal on the ground, rakghouls jumped out in front of the soldier. He came to a halt and slowly started backing up, his fear making him forget to draw his blaster. The rakghouls waited a couple seconds before pouncing on the soldier and tore him apart. The group could hear his screams, while the rakghouls made quick work of him; all that was left were bloody chunks. After finishing with the soldier, the three rakghouls stalked towards Mya, Ian and Carth.

"Everyone ready?" Carth asked, warming up his blasters

"Yep." Said Ian and Mya in unison. Ian gripping his vibrosword and Mya igniting her lightsaber.

Carth was going to question Mya about using her lightsaber, but the rakghouls were getting to close, so he opened fire. Shooting rapidly, he was able to wound two of the rakghouls before they got into melee range. Ian and Carth copied the strategy from before, attacking with blasters and vibrosword on the same rakghoul. Mya was the lucky one, getting to face the other two rakghouls herself; one coming from the left and the other the right. Twirling the violet blade in a circle in front of her, she looked back and forth between the beasts waiting for one to make a move. The left rakghoul came at Mya a couple seconds before the one on the right. Her blade was at the top of its counter clockwise spin when the rakghouls attacked; Mya changed the arc of the weapon, bringing it down to the right cutting off the left arm of one rakghoul and then quickly pulling the blade up while moving to the right, decapitating the other rakghoul. Twirling her body around, Mya turned the hilt of the lightsaber in her hand making the blade point backwards; completing the half turn, she thrust the blade into the middle of the chest of the wounded rakghoul, which was still reeling from losing its limb. The job done, she disengaged the lightsaber, but still kept it ready in hand.

"You sure it's a good idea to be using that?" asked Carth

"It works much better than those vibroswords." Said Mya, "Plus, who is going to be looking for a Jedi down here?"

"I hope your right."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

She and Big Z went to the Under City, like they do all the time, to search for useful stuff in the field and sewers. This time they even made a stop at the escape pods to see if there was anything left after the Vulkers raided them. They knew there were Gamorreans in the sewers, but they had never bothered the pair before. This time they had been waiting for them; Gamorreans aren't known for their intelligence, but they came up with a decent trap. When Mission and Big Z had gotten a few hallways into the sewers a flash grenade was rolled in and temporarily blinded the pair. From there the Gamorreans had strength in numbers, it was impossible for Big Z and Mission to beat them. Big Z was able to hold them off long enough for Mission to activate her stealth belt and escape.

Mission wasn't stupid; she wasn't afraid of the Gamorreans, but also she knew that there is no way she could take them out alone. The first place she thought to look for help was the Beks, but they couldn't help her they had their own problems to deal with. Without the Beks there wasn't anyone else Mission could count on for help, sentients mostly looked out for themselves down here. She knew that she had to hurry, there was no telling what those Gamorreans would do to Big Z. There was a secret passage in a corner of the Outcast village that led to Lower City, so she ran in that direction hoping that someone in the cantina might help her.

As she was running toward the village, she spotted a few rakghouls jumping out to attack some human. Wanting to save the charge on her stealth belt, Mission had turned it off after leaving the sewer; so instead of becoming another victim of the rakghouls, she hid behind a girder. There weren't many things that Mission was afraid of, but rakghouls were one of them; its hard for someone not to be frightened by the hideous creatures. She watched the man get torn apart by the rakghouls, from the safety of her shelter; feeling a little sick by the gore. Then she saw the beasts move in to attack three more humans, but they were able to kill the rakghouls.

_Hmm, maybe these guys can help me. And did I see that girl use a lightsaber? A Jedi would be a big help._

After the rakghouls were exterminated, Mission ran out from behind the girder to ask the three humans for help. Getting closer to them, she recognized them as the group from the cantina. Even though her mind was full with thoughts of saving Big Z, Mission learned to be aware of details even under dangerous situations.

_I wonder what they're doin down here? Probably searchin those escape pods._

Carth noticed Mission out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, just the Twi'lek we have been looking for." He said with a relieved smile, thankful that they didn't have to search any longer.

"Ne … need help … he's in trouble …. can't do it alone, they'll hurt him." Mission stammered, due to breathlessness and apprehension. "Please …. you must help me."

"Whoa, slow down there," Ian hesitated trying to remember her name, Mya mouthed Mission to him, "Mission. What's going on."

"They have him, I can't save him alone." She said quickly

"Calm down a sec. Who are they, and who do they have." Ian asked, doing his best to get the Twi'lek to settle down

"Gamorreans, they have Big Z. I have to save him, but I can't do it alone."

"Alright," Mission brightened up at getting some help, "but, in return could you show us how to get into the Vulker base?"

"Ya 'course I can." Said Mission, with a big smile on her face

"So, where are these sewers?"

"This way … come on."

During the conversation Mya thought she sensed a slight disturbance in the Force. She couldn't be completely sure of it, but she thought that it was coming from Ian. To her it seemed that he unconsciously used the Force to project and aura of calm to help put Mission at ease.

_Interesting. I'll have to tell Bastila about this once we find her._

Taking the lead, Mission led the group in the direction she came from; starting at the main gate of the Outcast village, it would be the path to the left. Fortunately the field was devoid of rakghouls while they made their way to the sewer entrance. There may not have been any rakghouls, but there were plenty of corpses. Outcast and Sith soldier alike had become victim to the mindless creatures; random body parts littered the ground. Ian and Carth would stop to search an intact Sith corpse to see if it had any rakghoul serum, but they found none.

"Not to many rakghouls around." Said Ian

Learning the hard way that one does not temp the Force, two rakghouls bound out from nowhere.

"You do not temp the Force." Mya said irritated that he had to say something, so she punched Ian in the arm

"Hey"

"You just had to say something." Said Carth

Mission and Carth pulled out blasters and opened fire on the rakghouls, which were quickly approaching. Ian got a firm grip on his vibrosword, waiting for the beasts to get in range. And Mya ignited her lightsaber and reached out to the Force.

Both rakghouls were slightly wounded by the time they reached the two melee fighters. Ian had little trouble taking down his rakghoul while it was being shot at by two blasters. It was slowed down by injuries and Ian timed a thrust to hit the rakghoul in a soft spot on the neck. Mya's opponent came right at her and pounced. Before it could hit her, she moved to the left and made a downward arc cutting off its arm and quickly pulled the blade up, decapitating the rakghoul.

A little ways off to the side, the group didn't notice a Sith patrol returning from searching the escape pods. At first all they saw were a bunch of sentients fighting rakghouls, but then they saw the glow of a lightsaber. Knowing their orders after locating a Jedi, the Sith commander radioed to the base alerting them of the Jedi. The communicator told them that they were to attempt to capture the Jedi, but if they had to kill the Jedi it didn't matter.

"You, Jedi, put your weapon down and don't resist or someone will get hurt." The Sith commander called. Him and the other seven soldiers had their blaster rifles trained on the Jedi, ignoring the other three in the group.

"Just great." Said Carth, "No one looking for a Jedi, you say."

"Sorry, my mistake." Said Mya, "No, I don't think I'll put my weapon down." She called back to the Sith.

"It's your funeral."

All eight Sith opened fire on the Jedi, still ignoring the other three sentients. Tapping into the Force more, Mya moved with inhuman speed to deflect the blaster bolts coming at her. Taking advantage of all the fire being concentrated on Mya; Carth, Mission and Ian fired back at the Sith. Half of the patrol fell before they reacted to the being shot at; they ran behind some cover to fire from.

Having the Sith on the run, the group tried to press the situation. Carth was able to take down another Sith and Mission wounded another. The last two made it to some cover, and began shooting again. Mya was able to easily deflect the blaster bolts now, with only two gunmen instead of eight. Acting on desperation, one of the Sith soldiers threw a frag grenade at the group closing in. With a flick on a wrist, Mya sent the grenade back the way it came and the last two Sith were killed by their own explosive.

"Well, they were right." Ian said

"About what?" Mya asked, confused

"Someone did get hurt."

"Mya, be more careful about using that lightsaber, alright." Said Carth

"Sure." She said, hiding the weapon again

Before leaving the group examined to Sith corpses to see if there was anything of use on them. What they mostly found were weapons and extra charges for their blasters. There were also some pass cards, but they would be void once the Sith realized that this patrol wasn't coming back. Searching through all of the hidden pouches in the Sith uniform, Mission was able to find a syringe filled with a strange green liquid.

"Hey, ya think this is that rakghoul serum you were talkin about?"

"Hmm, let me see." Said Carth, taking the syringe and examining it, "Well it looks odd enough. I guess we should take it to Zelka, he should be able to figure it out."

Continuing on their path to the sewer, they came across another group heading in their direction. There were five of them, they all looked slightly run down, but a couple were worse for wear. Two of the group were barely limping and had to lean on the others for support. That left the man in front to carry the majority of their equipment. He was obviously their leader, he had a commanding presence and looked like he could create fear in the bravest of warriors. He was a mammoth of a man, being a good six inches taller than Ian's six foot frame; he was incredibly fit for a man who appeared to be about mid fifties. As impressive as his physical shape was, it was his face and eyes that told his story. There were many scars covering his face, though most only noticeable up close, but there was one that stood out on the right side starting just above his eye and ending in the middle of his cheek; they spoke of many battles and near escapes from death. His grey eyes shone with a wisdom that not many would expect from him and that he usually hides. But most of all, he had the essence of a warrior who has seen great battles and crushing defeat.

"H .. hey stop right there, or … or I'll shoot." Said one of the men, pointing his blaster at Ian

"Settle down kid, we've lost enough men already, we don't need a pointless fire fight." Said the leader running a hand through his slate grey hair, then he turned to Ian, "I'm Canderous Ordo, and I'm in charge of this group of misfits. I bet your down here for the same reason we are, to search the escape pods. Don't waste your time, everything of value has been taken and this place is swarming with rakghouls. You should head back to the surface."

"Is that so? Well, I think we'll have a look for ourselves if you don't mind." Said Ian, sizing the man up.

Carth recognized the name Ordo, it was a Mandalorian clan name. He openly glared at the man with hate, disgusted with Mandalorians and their 'warrior' ways/

"Hey, I'm just handing out friendly advice, not something I usually do. I don't care if you heed it, its your life to throw away." Said the Mandalorian

At that moment there was a scurrying sound a little ways away.

"Did you hear that?" asked one of the men, "It sounds like a rakghoul."

Just as he said the word rakghoul did ten of them jump out and charge at them. Both Carth and Canderous sprung into action, old battle instincts kicking in. Carth emptied his twin, personally modified blasters onto the coming assault; while Canderous dropped what he was carrying and swung his repeating blaster into a ready position and unleashed hell. The others were a bit slower to react at getting their weapons ready. Since the rakghouls attacked from the rear, they came to the straggling, wounded men first. They were overwhelmed by the ten abominations; taking advantage of their distraction with the two injured men, everyone else doubled their efforts in killing the rakghouls.

Half of the beasts were killed while they were tearing the wounded apart. The other half continued to press forward, consumed with the need to kill. Everyone was backing up while firing their blasters, not wanting to contract the rakghoul disease; but they came at the sentients faster than they could retreat. One jumped at Canderous, but he just bashed it aside with his repeater; he then pointed the muzzle at the creature and blasted the thing, ripping it apart with all the bolts.

Mission and Carth were further back shooting at the rakghouls. Carth firing with the efficiency of a career soldier, doing considerable damage to them. He was able to take down another one before it could attack one of Canderous' remaining men. Mission was taking more time aiming the shot before she fired, while she has used a blaster before she lacks proficiency with the weapon. Training her sites on one rakghoul, she managed to shoot a bolt into its shoulder.

The two men still alive from Canderous' group were able to kill another rakghoul, leaving two to deal with. They both charged at Ian and Mya. Ian had to discard his blaster so he could pull out his vibrosword in time to barely deflect a massive paw aiming for his head. Together, Ian and Mya hacked away at the rakghouls with vibroswords, while the others helped with blaster fire. One of the creatures was becoming slow from its injuries and Mya found an opening to cut its head off. The last rakghouls was bombarded with blaster bolts and it too was killed.

After that was over, everyone took a minute to catch their breath and inspect themselves for wounds. Canderous looked over to the two new corpses, which were part of his scavenger party.

"I told Davik it was a waste of time, but he didn't want to listen." He muttered, shaking his head.

"Oh no." said one of the two men, suddenly trembling in fear.

"What's your problem." Canderous barked

"I … I got scratched by one of the rakghouls."

Carth was going to offer him to try out the serum they found, which they hoped was the right stuff; but before he could Canderous shot the man in the head.

Everyone stared in shock, but only Carth spoke up. "Why did you do that for." He said angrily

"Because, it was a better death than he would have gotten otherwise." He answered casually

"But we have a serum. We could have saved him." Carth shot back. Canderous simply shrugged and started walking off.

"I suggest you listen to my advice, and leave this place before you end up like them." He said, sparing a glance at the three bodies.

"Well, I've seen enough of this. Lets get to those sewers quickly, maybe there wont be any rakghouls there." Said Carth

The four trudged on, only stopping for a second to take out some ration bars. After about an hour more of walking, they finally reached a metal door.

"Well, here we are." Said Mission, opening the door.

The four walked into the darkness of the sewer; Ian, Carth and Mya hoping that this mission to find Bastila was almost over.


	6. Wookies, Rancors and Vulkers, Oh My

**AN: Tried to get this one up faster, but I had a busy week. Thanks to all that have reviewed ****and hope will continue reviewing**

**Just fixed a few mistakes that I somehow missed last time. I also changed how I am writting non-basic; I decided to use underline to show alien dialects, but I'll take suggestions if someone has a better idea.**

**Wookies, Rancors and Vulkers, Oh My**

The first thing one would notice about the sewers was the smell. The stench of decay and death permeated the air; also, Gamorreans had a rather pungent odor.

"Come on this way." Said Mission, leading the group to where the Gamorreans made their base.

The sewers were a maze of passages, though not quite as bad as Lower City; but there were a few circular rooms with many exits that could confuse someone. All the pathways were the same dull brown color, but the varying colors of the slime gave them some character. There were at least three ways out of the sewers; two that led to the Under City and one that was the back entrance to the Black Vulker base.

"Ugh, I hate this place; its disgusting." Said Mya, slipping a little on the slime on the floor and getting her hand covered in the gunk from putting her hand on the wall for balance.

"I didn't think Jedi were supposed to hate." Carth teased

"Well, I'm making an exception."

"So, you really are a Jedi." Said Mission excitedly, "That's so cool. Can ya do any tricks?"

"I could, but now's not the time, maybe later."

"So, you know your way through this place kid?" Said Carth

"Hey, I ain't no kid. I can take care of myself." Mission snapped, turning around to stare Carth down.

"Calm down, I'm just asking a simple question. There's no need to throw a temper tantrum."

"Maybe I'll answer your damn question if you apologize for callin me a kid." Said Mission, poking Carth in the chest.

"I'll apologize when you grow up."

"Whoa, stop it you two." Said Mya, stepping between them, "Carth, what's wrong with you? You're an adult, why don't you act like it." She said, slightly glaring at him.

"Fine, let's just go." He said.

Mission led the way, since she knew where the Gamorreans were and they wouldn't waste time getting there, but someone would occasionally slip. The group was making good time and Mission said they were getting close. They had one more of the circular rooms to go through before reaching Gamorrean territory. When they opened the door to the room they were met with a surprise; the room was filled with two dozen rakghouls that simultaneously turned to face the group as the door opened. Smelling the new prey, the rakghouls charged the four sentients.

"Not more of these bastards." Said Ian

"We can't win this, RUN." Carth ordered.

As the four headed back the way they came, Ian rolled a couple frag grenades into the room killing some of the rakghouls. Halfway down the hallway Carth got an idea, he turned and fired a few bolts into the doors locking mechanism causing it to close; five of the rakghouls made it through the door before it closed. The path they were in was very narrow, so they continued to run; hopefully they could lose the rakghouls or at least find a better place to defend themselves.

After going down a few winding paths they looked back to see the creatures still following. Mission made a sudden turn, hoping to lead everyone to another room where they could lock the rakghouls behind them. She did bring them to a room, but not what she had hoped; it was a dead end, they would have to fight now.

All four quickly turned around and fired their blasters at the rakghouls. They had the advantage that the rakghouls were still in the narrow path; so even Mya and Ian, with their poor aim, were bound to hit one of them. Three of the abominations fell before they got close enough for a counterattack. Ian and Mya exchanged their blasters for vibroswords to slash at the two remaining rakghouls, and to block them at the entrance to the room. While Mission and Carth stood off to the side of the entrance ramp and continued to fire bolts at the enemy. About a minute later the battle was over and the group got a chance to look around and see where they were.

The room they were in was small and had a couple piles of bones placed randomly. There was nothing special about the room and they were going to head out and find another path to the Gamorreans. Before she turned around, Mission happened to see a glint coming from one of the piles.

"Hey, what's that? She said, heading over to the pile.

Not minding a little break, the other three didn't complain that they had to get moving; it had been a long day, and it wasn't even over yet. Mission rummaged through the pile for a couple minutes and came out with two datapads. They looked very old and worn; it was surprising that they still worked.

"I don't get it," said Mission, "It has somethin about a 'Promised Land' on it."

The other three's eyes widened at that comment.

"Did you just say 'Promised Land'?" Ian asked, astonished

"Yep, what of it?"

"Some old guy in the Outcast village was talkin about that." He answered

"Oh, I guess we should give these to him."

"That's the plan." Said Ian, "Plus, we might be able to get some credits off of them."

"Ian, these people don't having anything to give." Mya said, a little upset at him

"Right, I forgot."

"Man, do you always have to think about credits; I mean, we could use some, but still." Said Carth.

"Hey, I'm a smuggler, remember. I always consider how much something is worth."

"Well, we've taken a long enough break. Let's move out."

It didn't take them very long to find another route to the Gamorreans territory, Mission had scouted out most of the sewers; even though she usually doesn't come in this far often. They were also fortunate not to encounter any more hostile beings while search for the new pathway.

Entering the hallway the group got a look at a Gamorrean patrol walking away from them. The disgusting, pig like creatures were disliked by almost everyone; except Hutts liked to use them as bodyguards. They're not smart by any means, but they make up for that in brute strength; a hand to hand fight against a Gamorrean would be a challenge for many sentients. Another thing to look out for is their large tusks, which can also deal quite a bit of damage.

Even though only Mission had a stealth belt, they decided that sneaking through would be their best option; fighting every Gamorrean would be tiring. While that first patrol was at the other end of the path, the four went into a room that was not being watched. It was a supply room that had a couple guards that saw the group immediately and attacked. Since Gamorreans fought with melee weapons, like vibroswords and axes, it was easy for the four to just blast the hostiles before they got close enough to attack.

Searching the room turned up a few useful items. In a lockbox against the wall they found a very large belt and a bowcaster; obviously the possessions of a Wookie. There were also a few more lockboxes that Mission easily broke into; those yielded some extra grenades, mostly frag and a couple ion. There being nothing else of value, they moved on.

A few pathways and defeated Gamorrean patrols later, the group found themselves in front of a door Mission swore was the leader's. It was locked, so Mission had to slice it open. When the door slid open the other three had blasters ready, but there was nothing there.

'Mission, I thought you said the leader was in here?" said Carth

"He's should be." She said

"Here, I'll look for any life signs." Mya suggested reaching out with the Force in a small area to see what was close. "I sense something over there." She said, pointing to a door to her left.

At that moment the door opened revealing for Gamorreans ready for battle; one was bigger than the other three, this one was the leader. Before everyone could get their blasters pointed at the Gamorreans, the leader threw a flash grenade into the room. Momentarily blinded, the quartet was not prepared for the rushing enemies.

Ian and Carth were knocked off their feet by the muscular beings. Mission was relatively safe being the farthest back and aided since only the three grunts charged them; the leader was watching the battle. Being blinded pushed Mya into her ingrained battle instincts; igniting her lightsaber, she sensed the Gamorrean charging her and she sliced its arm off with a quick slash.

Once their vision cleared, Carth and Ian could see the Gamorreans standing above them with axes ready to come down on them. Carth was fast to react, still holding one blaster, he got a firm grip and rapidly fired bolts into the middle of attacker's chest. Ian, on the other hand, had to get his blaster out of the holster and only managed a shot grazing the Gamorrean's arm; after that it came down with the axe and Ian had to roll to the side in order to avoid having his head cleaved in half. The Gamorrean was coming down fast, not letting Ian get a chance to shoot; this went on for about half a minute before Mission, unnoticed, fired a bolt into the Gamorrean's head.

With two of his grunts down, the leader decided to join the fight. He came at Carth and didn't give him a chance to prepare after standing up; he just swung his axe at Carth's head. Carth was barely able to duck in time to avoid losing his head, but the leader took one hand off the swinging axe and punched Carth in the stomach, knocking him into the wall. Out of breath, Carth was of no help while the leader turned towards Ian and Mission.

The wounded Gamorrean facing Mya only took a moment to reel back and howl in pain before continuing his assault. Since it's not an intelligent being, the Gamorrean didn't know that it stood no chance. It attacked Mya with an axe, which she easily prevented from doing any damage by cutting the top off the weapon. Stepping back, the Gamorrean looked at the stump of the ruined axe in confusion for a second, but then just charged at the young Jedi. She simply side stepped the beast and swung her lightsaber in a horizontal arc, cutting the Gamorrean in half at the waist.

Ian trained his blaster on the lead Gamorrean, but before he could fire it a large hand knocked it from his grip. Suddenly a little frightened, Ian thrust out his left arm to ward off a blow; then next thing he knew the Gamorrean flew across the room and into a wall. Not giving the leader a chance to recover, Ian walked over and decapitated the large beast. With the battle finished, everyone just stared at Ian.

"What?" he asked

"How'd ya do that?" asked Mission

"I didn't do anything."

"Oh. It looked like you made that Gamorrean fly into the wall." Said Mission, "I thought only Jedi could do that?"

"No, other people can do that as well, we call them Force Sensitive." Mya answered, "They can't consciously control the Force, but sometimes things happen; mostly when in a desperate situation." She finished, looking Ian over again.

"I said I didn't do anything." Ian said again, becoming angry and raising his voice slightly.

Carth, finally catching his breath, figured it was time to end this bickering. "Come on, let's go. We have many things to do today."

After applying some kolto to their wounds and searching the bodies for supplies, the group continued to search for the captive Wookie. They entered the room that the Gamorreans came from and looked around, figuring that Big Z was kept under heavy guard. Investigating the room was rather quick, since the only thing of interest was the door at the other end. Ian tried to open it, but the door was locked. Mission and Carth were the only two with skill in picking locks, but Carth was pitiful at it, so Mission went to work; as a last resort Mya could cut the door down with her lightsaber.

A could minutes later the door started to open; it was a little rusty, so it slid slowly and made a lot of noise. Inside the room Big Z had jumped up and prepared to defend himself. The tall Wookie, about seven and a half feet tall, looked a little more haggard than normal; having suffered at the ill treatment of the Gamorreans. His brown fur was a matted mess and there were a few bloody spots. When he got a good look at who opened the door he immediately dropped his aggressive stance and appeared to have a relieved look on his face.

"Who are they Mission?" asked Zalbaar, curious of the people Mission has teamed up with and wondering if they are not dangerous.

"These guys are my new friends Big Z. They helped me rescue you." She answered. She and Ian were the only two that understood Shyriiwook. Carth had no idea what the Wookie was saying, and even though she knew many languages, Mya didn't know Shyriiwook either.

"Is this true Mission?" he asked, surprised that someone would actually help.

"Yep," she said, hugging the Wookie, "Actually, it was Ian who said they would help. I didn't think they would, since they seemed busy."

"Hey, it was nothing." Said Ian

"You are the one to offer to save me from the Gamorreans?"

"Yeah, that would be me." Ian answered, but instead of it coming out in basic the words sounded like a bunch of grunts are roars.

"Whoa, wait a minute, you speak Shyriiwook?" said Carth, incredulous of the fact Ian spoke the Wookie language. _I didn't think any human could speak that. I have to ask Bastila about this guy once we find her._

Getting on one knee, Zalbaar spoke to Ian. "I thank you Ian …."

"Verik"

"Ian Verik for assisting Mission in rescuing me."

"It was nothing." He said, waving his hand dismissively

"But it is something to me. If you had not come to my aid I would most likely have been sold into slavery. There is only one way I can repay you for saving me."

"You don't need to repay me, really."

"But I must." said Zalbaar in seriousness, "I pledge to you a life debt."

"Whoa Big Z, a life debt. This is serious stuff." Said Mission, shocked, "You know what a life debt is?"

"Yeah, I know what it is. It's when a Wookie will stay with the sentient they pledge it to and make sure they come to no harm; something like that right?"

"Yes that is the basics of the life debt."

"Well, I would be honored to accept it." Said Ian, not wanting to anger the Wookie by rejecting the life debt.

"Hey guess what?" said Mission excitedly.

"What?" Mya asked

"I'm gonna be going with you guys too, since were Big Z goes I go." She said with a smile.

"I'm glad to have you with us." Said Ian.

"So, where is the entrance to the Vulker base?" Carth asked

"This way, follow me." Said Mission

The group of five went back through the sewers, leaving Gamorrean territory. There was little excitement during the walk, except for a couple rakghouls that were easily dealt with. Within a short time they came to a place in the sewers that had a pathway blocked by a force field.

"Alright, now how do we get past the force field?" asked Carth

"We need a password that I just happen to have." said Mission, flashing a grin, "I stole it from a Vulker a few days ago,"

Punching in the code on a console along one of the sewer walls caused the force field to lower. Taking the only path, the group eventually came up to a door. Ian was about to open it, but loud rumble made him stop.

"What the hell was that?" He said

"Oh, umm … oops." Said Mission, looking a little embarrassed.

"Oops?" asked Carth

"I might have forgotten to mention a little detail about gettin into the Vulker base."

"Like what?"

"A Rancor that guards the back entrance."

"A ra … rancor?" Mya asked, wide eyed.

"Yeah, there is a rancor that found its way into the sewer and lives in there." Said Mission, pointing at the door, "He eats things that try to get into the Vulker base, and sometimes a Vulker leaving the base."

"How do we get by that?" Said Ian, raising his voice.

"Well, I can turn on my stealth belt and sneak past it."

"Yeah, but that doesn't help the rest of us." Said Carth

Mya opened the door so she could get a good look at the Rancor. The mammoth creature was about thirty feet tall and could move faster than its size would suggest. It could easily catch them with a quick swipe with one of its huge paws, tipped with large claws. The Rancor wasn't facing completely away from them, so Mya could see some of the creature's gaping mouth; the only thing deadlier than its claws are the even larger teeth the rancor had.

"There is no way we could fight that thing." Said Ian

"Maybe not." Said Mya, "Wait, I have an idea"

"What?" Carth asked

"Just wait here, I'll take care of it"

"What are you talking about; you can't go out there that's suicide."

"Trust me." She said smirking at him

Carth just grumbled as Mya walked into the room with the Rancor. Slowly she made her way closer to the Rancor, stopping whenever the beast would make any sort of movement. At the rate she was moving it took a few minutes before she was in position, and the Rancor still hadn't noticed her. Mya took out her lightsaber and got a firm grip on it, preparing for what she was about to do

_Force I hope I know what I am doing._

Tapping into the Force she made a leap onto top of the Rancor's head and plunged her lightsaber into it to hold her steady. Everyone else could just watch with horror as the Rancor roared loudly and shook about trying to throw Mya off. Using the lightsaber as a grip, she dragged it across the Rancor's head moving closer to the front of the creature. Once she got in between the protruding nostrils she took a minute to keep her balance and ready a frag grenade. When she figured that she was ready, she jumped off the Rancor's head. Using the Force to help her the whole way, she turned around during her fall and threw the grenade into the Rancor's open mouth. The beast closed its mouth, containing the blast when the grenade exploded a second later. The force of the blast caused the Rancor's head to blow off sending pieces flying all over the place. A few large chunks hit Mya while she was still in midair and pushed hit back; she hit the ground hard, the impact lessened slightly by the Force. The headless Rancor fell backwards with a mighty crash and a small earthquake.

Everyone ran out to Mya, but Carth got to her first. "That was a stupid move woman, you could have been killed." He snapped. Heavy breathing and a couple grunts were the only reply he got.

"Are you alright?"

"I'll live."

The group helped pull Mya out from under the Rancor chunks and see how badly wounded she was. She was sore, but besides a few scrapes and some tears in her clothes, she was fine; although there were plenty of places that would soon sport some nice bruising.

"Oh great, first sewer slime and now Rancor brain. I'm going to have to really clean up when we get back." Mya commented, "Ugh, I doubt I can wear these again."

"You can always wear that other outfit I got for you." Ian suggested with a sly grin

"In your dreams." She said, while applying kolto to the few wounds she received from her crazy stunt.

While Mission spoke with amazement over what Mya just did, Carth pulled Mya aside.

"What were you thinking? Are you insane? Damn it woman, you can't be going off and doing things like that." Carth ranted

"But it worked, didn't it?" she answered smiling

"That's not the point." Carth said, calming down, "That was a very dangerous move you pulled over there, you could have been killed. I don't want to see you doing things like that, we need you Mya and taking on a Rancor single handedly is not something you should waste your life with."

"Sorry." She said eyes downcast.

"It's alright," said Carth, lightening up on Mya and putting a hand on her shoulder, "You did get the job. And it was pretty amazing that you pulled it off." He finished, smiling at her.

"Thanks." She said, smiling back.

"But next time save that for when we have no alternative." He said, becoming serious again.

Mya just nodded in response. _My master always told me I was too reckless and didn't cover up my emotions good enough; why can't I ever seem to learn?_

When they returned to the rest of the group, they made the plans for breaking into the Vulker base.

Carth, being a good strategist, took charge. "Alright, first thing is to define our goal for this mission. What we need to do is find the stolen swoop engine and return it to the Beks, understood?"

"Yep." They said in unison

"Good. Now, the Vulker base will most likely be filled with hostiles, so a small group will work best." He continued, "Mission, you seem to be skilled in stealth and hacking computers, you should be in the group infiltrating the base."

"You can count on me"

"Going with you will be," Carth hesitated a moment trying to figure out the best group, "Mya and Ian, since they are better at close quarter combat. Big Z and I will head back to the main entrance of the Vulker base to cut off any reinforcements. Everybody got that."

"Yes sir." They said, half mockingly and giving a salute.

"Very funny." He said, "Alright, move out."

As Zalbaar and Carth headed back to the Lower City; Mission, Mya and Ian went to the door on the far side of the Rancor's den. Inside there were two Vulkers guarding an elevator shaft that led into their base. Seeing intruders, the Vulkers lifted their blasters to shoot them; but before either of them could fire Mya put slight pressure on their minds using the Force, and put both guards to sleep. The elevator could only be accessed by a pass card; searching the guards, they found the pass card and a couple personal shields. While Ian and Mission attached the shields to their wrists, Mya opened the elevator.

After a short ride the three ended up in a storage closet. They looked through a few containers, deciding to see if they could find anything useful before moving on; the most valuable items were four extra frag grenades and three computer spikes.

"We need'da find a computer terminal for me to hack." Said Mission

Luck, or the Force, was on their side; opening the door in front of them, they caught a glimpse of a patrol droid rounding a corner. With that break they ran across the hall and into another room. There was a guard droid to their right when they entered; before it could attack them Mya destroyed it with her lightsaber.

They opened the door at the other end of the room and looked out into the hall way; they saw a Vulker walking away from them. While that should have been good news, the Vulker's patrol took him into a more open area.

"We'll wait for him to come back and then ambush him." Said Ian

When the Vulker returned, he found it strange that the door was open, so he went inside to check things out. Inside, there appeared to be nothing wrong with the room so he turned to leave. As he turned around the three intruders stood in the doorway. Quickly, the Vulker turned on his personal shield for protection from blaster fire. He was about to aim his blaster at Mission, but a strange snap-hiss sound caught his attention. The Vulker momentarily froze; but confident that his shield would protect him, he opened fire. He got off a few shots that were easily deflected by the lightsaber, then Mya cut the blaster in half.

Unarmed, the Vulker started to back up and leave through the other exit. When Ian noticed that Mya wasn't going to finish off the Vulker, he took out his vibrosword. She caught his intent a second too late; before she could stop him, Ian stabbed the defenseless in the chest, killing him.

"Why did you do that? He was unarmed." Said Mya angrily.

"Why?" said Ian, "It's pretty obvious, he would have sounded an alarm if we let him go."

"But that doesn't give you the right to kill someone in cold blood."

"Whatever, let's just get moving."

They walked into the main part of the base, the entrance to the base was to their left; also there was a room in the middle of this area providing some cover. Mission turned on her stealth belt and walked around the room, making sure everything was clear. At the entrance to that room there were to guard droids and right across from them was a computer terminal. She pulled out an ion grenade and held onto it for a second, letting it get closer to exploding. When it was ready, she threw the grenade at the droids; it exploded sending arcs of electricity through them and short circuiting the droids. Making one last survey of the area, Mission went back to Ian and Mya.

"All clear." She said turning her stealth belt off in front of them.

"Great work." Said Ian

They went back to the computer and Mission proceeded to hack it, while Ian and Mya stood guard.

A couple minutes went by and nothing had happened. "How long is it going to take Mission?" Ian asked

"A few more minutes. Ya gotta be careful with this stuff, don't wanna set off some alarm." She answered, "And this ain't the main computer. They could fix everything if I don't take my time."

"Gotcha."

Like Mission said, it took her a few more minutes to finish hacking into the system.

"I'm done." She said.

"So, what did that do?" Mya asked

"Well, I turned off the blaster canons they had guarding the elevator for their swoop hangar. And, I put their cameras into a loop, so they wont even see us" Mission said with a grin

"That's good. We should be quick; get this over with before they notice something is wrong." Said Ian

Heading to the elevator, the group didn't run into any trouble besides the patrol droid they avoided earlier; but that was easy enough to destroy. Since they knew so little about Mission, Mya decided to talk to her.

"So, a Wookie and a Twi'lek, quite an interesting pair you make." She said

"Maybe, but we fit will together ya know." Said Mission, "I got the skills and Big Z has the muscle."

"How did you two meet up?" Ian asked

"Well, it was just another day down here and I got into a fight with a couple Vulkers. Most times they just leave me alone, but they pulled blasters on me. I guess Big Z was close by and saw what happened. He came over and picked one of the Vulkers off the ground and roared into his face. Then he dropped him, the Vulkers ran off. We've been best pals since then."

"You're lucky that Vulker didn't kill you." Said Ian

"Hey, I can take care of myself."

"So, how about Zalbaar. How did he end up on Taris?" asked Mya, changing the subject before Ian and Mission got into an argument.

"He never told me about it. All I know is that he had to leave his home."

Just then the elevator came to a stop. The room they entered was a swoop hangar, there were four swoop bikes being stored in the middle of the room. There was a patrol droid at the other end of the room flying back and forth, it didn't even notice the intruders. Looking around some more, they saw a couple decommissioned droids.

"Man, if I had some spare parts I could have fixed them." Said Mission

"That would have been helpful." Ian said

There were two paths for them to take; one to their right and one straight ahead. They took one leading to the right first. That hallway was empty, but around the corner was a patrol and this time it was coming towards them. The two Vulkers saw Ian poke his head around the corner and instantly they trained their blasters on him. Ian pulled his head back as two blaster bolts went by and hit the wall, leaving scorch marks. A few seconds later an alarm rang out through the base.

"Shit. Well time for subtly is over." Said Ian, gripping a vibrosword in his right hand and a blaster in his left.

The two Vulkers were met with reinforcements before rounding the corner and apprehending the intruders. The, now six, Vulkers rushed out to face their enemy, overconfident with their advantage in numbers. They were met with blaster fire that quickly took down one of them, and they were a little surprised to see three infiltrators; but two of them were girls, so they paid them no mind.

"You made a big mistake human." Said a Vulker, "Now we will kill you, but we will keep your women." He finished, giving both Mya and Mission a lustful leer.

"Too much talk." Said Ian, shooting the Vulker in the head

The remaining four Vulkers opened fire, but both Mission and Ian had activated their shields rendering the bolts ineffectual. Two more fell to blaster fire, and the last two turned to try their luck with attacking Mya. Up to this point Mya hadn't even moved, no one was paying her any attention; but when the Vulkers turned to shoot her, she instantly ignited her lightsaber. The bolts shot her way were easily deflected and even killed one of the thugs.

"A Jedi?" The last Vulker said, shocked. He would never have thought that the young woman was anyone of importance. Those were his last thoughts as blaster bolts tore through him.

--------------------------------------

Carth and Zalbaar had little difficulty making it back to the front of the Vulker base, they only encountered a few rakghouls; it took them a while to get there because it was a long walk. But when they got there they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

On the path leading to the Vulker base there were alcoves on either side where they could hide. It took a while, but eventually they heard some commotion further down the path and it was headed their way. Five Vulkers were running to their base, letting the pair know that something was up. So intent on getting back to their base, the Vulkers almost didn't notice Zalbaar hiding in the alcove; but its difficult for a Wookie to hide and a couple of the Vulkers saw him. They turned to question the Wookie, hefting their blasters to aim them at him.

Not giving them a chance, Carth shot both Vulkers in the back, pumping a few bolts into each of them. The sound caused the other three Vulkers to stop and turn around. Seeing the bodies of their comrades, the Vulkers slowly made their way back to the alcoves where pair was hiding. Carth knew that they would soon have company, so he tried to signal to Zalbaar to poke out and shoot at them. He seemed to get the message, a moment later he snuck out of his hiding spot to fire a few bolts. He had to move back when the Vulkers started to shoot at him; and using that distraction, Carth came out on his side and shot at the hostiles.

This went on for about a minute with Zalbaar and Carth having a slight advantage. The Vulkers had no cover, so they had to hope the bolts missed; which most did, since the pair didn't have time to aim, but they did take out on of the Vulkers. When Carth came out he started shooting, but the Vulkers had dropped to the ground and all the bolts went over their heads. Not expecting this, Carth was a little slow with his reactions and got shot in the side as he was moving back into his alcove. He slid to the ground wincing and held his side while giving Zalbaar another signal. As the Vulkers stood up the Wookie rolled a frag grenade at them, their eyes widened a second before it exploded killing them.

"Nice work." Carth said through gritted teeth as he applied a kolto patch to his wound. "I hope everything is going fine in there."

--------------------------------------

Continuing down the hallway they started with, the trio came to the security room. Inside, a green Twi'lek sat behind the desk checking some monitors and was working quickly at something. He didn't notice the blasters pointed at him right away, but when he did he put his hands up.

"Please, please don't hurt me." He pleaded

"Move away from the desk." Said Ian and the Twi'lek complied, "Mission, see if you can turn that alarm off, I'm getting a headache."

"Sure thing."

"So, why shouldn't I hurt you? You are a Vulker, right?"

"W … well yes, but … but I'm unarmed."

"So. If I let you go you could get some reinforcements." Ian said, tightening his grip on the trigger.

"Ian, stop this." Said Mya, "Talk to him, maybe he can help us."

"Ye … yes, I can help you."

"And why would you do that?" Ian asked

"Be … because, I don't l … like Brejik. He ruined the Vulkers."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. Before he came along, the Vulkers stood for something and were not blood thirsty punks. Plus, I held a place of power, not a pitiful security guard."

"I'm terribly sorry." Said Ian sarcastically, "Okay, tell us what you can do to help."

"I can help you escape. I can send what guards are here away due to an _emergency_." Said the Twi'lek

"Sounds good, but how can we trust you?"

"I'll do it now while you watch, but please don't kill me after. I just want to leave, I'll join the Beks, just don't kill me."

"Yeah, sure. Just get on with it."

Mission finished with disabling the alarm system and move to let the Vulker send out his message. He told the Vulkers, over the intercom, that they were needed in a gang fight that erupted in a section of the Lower City; a section that was far away from the base.

"There, that should keep them busy for a while."

"Good. Here," said Ian, handing the Twi'lek a datapad, "show this to a human and Wookie, they should be hiding somewhere just outside the base. They'll keep you safe while we finish up here."

"Th .. thank you."

"Yeah, yeah." Said Ian dismissively

The trio went back and took the other hallway. There were no patrols, so it was easy for them to check every room in the hall, until reaching the last one which was locked. They figured that this was where the swoop engine must be and Mission picked the lock. Inside there were four Vulkers waiting with weapons drawn, the leader was another green Twi'lek.

"Ah, so here are the intruders." He said, "Planning on stealing the swoop engine are you?"

"Good guess, now if you would be so kind as to move out of my way." Said Ian, gesturing with his blaster.

"I don't think so. But I see you don't wear the Beks colors, perhaps you are a mercenary?"

"What's your point?"

"I am Kandon and I hold and important position with the Vulkers. Maybe I can _persuade _you to join us instead."

"I doubt it."

"How about a thousand credits?"

"Tempting, but I promised to help the Beks; and I won't betray them."

"Fine." Said the Twi'lek and then turning to the other Vulkers, "Kill them."

Not wasting any time, Ian turned on his shield and started shooting at the Kandon. Unfortunately, he also had a personal shield, so the bolts did nothing. Three of the Vulkers opened fire on the group, while the last one pulled out a vibrosword and charged Mission. She tried to defend herself, but this Vulker also had a shield; putting her arm up, Mission prepared for the blow, but it never hit. A violet lightsaber parried the vibrosword before it could hurt Mission.

Mya pushed the Vulker back a couple steps and swung her blade in an arc aiming for the Vulker's waste. Regaining his balance in time, the Vulker managed to block the attack; but the Jedi was moving so fast he didn't have a chance to counterattack, all he could do was try to parry each attack. Mya knew that she would be unable to fight with this Vulker and deflect bolts from three blasters at the same time, so she tried to finish this as fast as she could.

Knowing his shield was running low, Ian switched his blaster for a vibrosword and moved in to attack the Twi'lek. Not prepared for this move, all he could do was stumble backwards before the blade caught him. As the Kandon fell to the ground, Ian pressed his advantage and went for the kill, but instead was kicked in the stomach as he got too close. Ian stumbled back a few steps from the blow and was going to try it again, but one of the other Vulkers challenged him.

Mission stood in the doorway shooting her blaster, but still having no luck at getting through the Vulker's shields. With her own shield running low she needed a new plan. When Ian and a thug moved into the line of fire there was a break in the shooting; using that to her advantage, Mission turned on her stealth belt. When the dueling pair were out of the way the Vulker that was shooting at Mission was a little worried that the Twi'lek disappeared. She crept up behind the Vulker and pulled out a vibrodagger; since sudden movements would ruin the stealth field, Mission had to make this count. Getting a good grip on the dagger, she thrust it at the back of the Vulker's neck and with a gurgle he dropped to the ground.

The Vulker was becoming exhausted trying to keep up with Mya and was finding it more difficult to parry her attacks. In an act of desperation, the Vulker brought his knee up into Mya's gut knocking the wind out of her. She fell back against the wall, one had clutching her stomach and the other holding the lightsaber at her side. While regaining her breath, the Vulker attacked aiming his blade for Mya's neck; she moved out of the way in time, but with the downward angle of the attack the blade tore into her left shoulder. She let out a small cry before using the Force to dampen the pain. Fixing her grip on the lightsaber she was able to parry a slash; then Mya pushed the Vulker's blade down and came in with a high slash of her own, taking off the Vulker's head.

Finding an opening, Ian slugged a Vulker in the face sending him tumbling backwards. Not giving Ian a chance to obtain any advantage, Kandon took the other Vulker's place. The two slashed and parried around the room for about a minute; then Kandon used Ian's move against him, and punched him in the face. Staggering back, Ian wasn't prepared for Kandon to kick the vibrosword out of his hand. Ian backed up from the blade pointed at his chest, but tripped on his own feet and landed on his rear. Seeing his victory, Kandon smiled and raised his blade; Ian reached for his sword, but it was too far.

_If only I could reach it._

Kandon's blade came down in a wide arc and was quickly approaching. Ian closed his eyes thinking that only if he had his vibrosword.

Across the room Mya dealt with the other Vulker. He had recovered since Ian had punched him, but that wasn't helping him against Mya's superior dueling ability. Thinking he had an opening, the Vulker thrust his blade at the Jedi. She knew what was coming and moved to the left, avoiding the attack; she then spun around and slashed at the Vulker's waist while he was still facing away from her. After defeating her opponent, Mya felt a disturbance in the Force that was very close, but she wasn't sure what was.

As Ian raised his arm to try and ward off the incoming blow he felt the familiar feel of steel in his hand. Not taking the time to think of how the vibrosword returned to his hand, Ian moved the blade just in time to parry Kandon's attack. Momentarily frozen by what he had seen, Kandon wasn't ready for Ian to bat his sword to the side.

When Ian saw the look of shock on Kandon's face, he knew he had him. Batting Kandon's weapon away left his torso exposed and Ian wasted no time in thrusting his blade into Kandon's gut. Kandon dropped his weapon and put both hands to the wound in his stomach as he fell to the ground.

"H .. how … not possible." He said, still not able to believe that Ian's vibrosword flew back to his hand. And a moment later he collapsed, dead.

"Let's get that engine and get out of here." Ian panted

"Right." said Mya. _He was the disturbance I felt._

The three patched up their wounds and made their way to the main entrance of the Vulker base. True to his word there was not a guard in sight throughout the base as they walked through it with the engine. It took a few minutes to make it out hauling the engine. The scene before them as they exited the base was a charred spot on the ground with body pieces strewn about; a little farther there were a couple more bodies, intact, lying on the ground next to an alcove.

"So I see you guys had a little excitement out here." Said Ian, "I'm glad we didn't have all the fun."

"Yeah, it was a blast." Said Carth, still holding his wound

"Are you alright?" asked Mya

"I'll be fine." He said, wincing slightly

"Here, let me help you." She said, using the Force to aid the healing of his injury.

"Thanks."

"Hey, Big Z, can ya help carry this thing, its heavy." Said Mission

'Of course' Zalbaar replied, taking the engine.

The five returned with the ex-Vulker Twi'lek and the swoop engine to the Bek base. The guard looked at the group suspiciously, but let them enter. But things didn't get any better once they got into the base.

"Hold it, what are you doing with that Vulker?" Zaerdra demanded, pointing her blaster at the Twi'lek.

"Whoa, wait." Said Ian stepping between Zaerdra and the other Twi'lek, "He helped us get out of the Vulker base and he has decided to leave the Vulkers."

"Why should I believe you?" Zaerdra spat

"Not this again." Carth muttered

On cue Gadon appeared, to put an end to the bickering. "Enough of this. So you have the swoop engine?" he asked

"Yep, right here." Said Ian, signaling for Big Z to bring it forward.

"Excellent. Now we can get started attaching it to one of our swoops."

"So, now about getting Bastila back." Said Carth

"Yes, now we will have to win the swoop race in a couple days." Said Gadon

"What do you mean 'we'?" Carth asked

"Well, normally I'd have one of my Beks ride the swoop, but the prototype engine is unstable and could explode." Gadon began, "Instead I'd like one of you to ride that swoop, giving my other riders a chance should you fail."

"I see." Said Carth, "Since we have no choice in the matter, I'll ride the swoop."

"I'm glad we c…" Gadon started

"Hey wait, how come you get to ride the swoop?" Ian asked

"Because I'm the commanding officer on this mission and I'm a professional pilot." He stated in manner that left no room for argument.

Ian decided to argue anyway. "So, that doesn't mean you'll have the best chance at winning this thing."

"Like I said, I'm the commanding officer, I make the decisions."

"I'm not a soldier, I don't have to follow your orders."

"Hey, I could do it." Mya suggested

"No way, out of the question." Said Carth

Before the three started a yelling match, Gadon decided to intervene "It getting late, you are all probably in need of some rest. You may stay here for the nights up till the race; you can decide who is riding in the morning."

"Thank you for your hospitality." Said Carth, turning back to the others, "We'll discus this in the morning, get some rest."


	7. Swoops and Ungrateful Jedi

**AN: Thanks for the reviews. Wow Taris is taking a while, I didn't plan on it taking so many chapters; but things happen.**

**Alright, I was wondering what gender I should have for my Exile, since he/she may make a cameo in this story. Yes I know the Exile isn't supposed to be in this one ... just trust me, I know what I am doing. I am leaning towards a female Exile, but if you can give me a good explination for either male or female I'll take it into concideration. But I've rambled enough for now ... enjoy.**

**Swoops, Ungrateful Jedi and Observant Mandalorians**

**Taris: Day 6**

The group woke up early to decide who would ride the unstable swoop bike. Mya and Carth met in the Bek's cafeteria, but Ian didn't show up.

"I still think I should do it." Said Carth. "I don't want to put either of you at risk."

"Carth, I understand that you believe it's your duty to do this, but Ian or I can handle it." Said Mya. "Plus, you're still injured."

"You're damn right it's my duty." Said Carth slamming his fist on the table. "Also, a Jedi is more important than a Republic pilot; my life can be risked."

"Don't say that, you're important. I mean, who'll fly the ship once we find one?" said Mya. "And I can use the Force to help me ride the swoop bike, you can't."

"Okay, you got me there." Carth agreed

Ian came into the room and walked up to Mya and Carth. "I'm doing it." He stated

"What? I thought we just agreed that I'm doing it." Said Mya

"We did?" Ian asked

"Yes, because I can use the Force to help me, we decided that it would be best of I ride."

"Well, I'm still going to do it." Said Ian. "As much as I hate doing it, I'll risk myself for Bastila."

"No Ian, Mya is much better suited for this."

"Maybe, but that's not going to stop me."

"And why's that?" Carth asked

"Because I already told Gadon that I will be racing."

"You did what?" Carth snapped. "Damn it Ian, you can't make decisions like that."

"I can and I did." Said Ian smiling smugly. "Now, I have today to learn how to ride a swoop bike, so I should get going."

Ian walked off and left Carth fuming, muttering about stupid smugglers. Meanwhile, Mya stood off to the side and tried to figure out what to do now.

With a sigh she went over to talk with Carth. "What's done is done. But I think this plan might work."

"That's reassuring." Said Carth, still upset but calmer than a minute ago.

For the rest of the day Bek swoop racers taught Ian how to ride. After learning the basics, he spent a few hours on a simulator. Mya used the time to rest and meditate on recent events; there was something strange about Ian, but she couldn't figure out what. As for Carth, he tended to his wound and moped about. He was still upset that Ian went behind their back and signed up to race the swoop bike.

Later that night Mya approached Ian about a plan she came up with. They discussed it for half an hour and once they agreed on it, both went to bed.

**Taris: Day 7**

Early in the morning one of the Bek mechanics, a Rodian, brought Ian to the swoop track; only mechanics and riders were allowed there. The pit where riders waited for their turn was a rectangular room, with space on both sides for swoop bikes; most noticeable areas were for the Hidden Beks and Black Vulkers, but other, smaller gangs were also there. In the center of the room was a circular kiosk where the race manager stood, and right behind there was a section of floor that would open up to reveal the prizes each gang put up. At the far end up the pit a force field blocked the entrance to the swoop track until a rider has been cleared to go. Both sides of the room were opened up to reveal stands filled with sentients from Lower City and Sith troops at intervals, to make sure things didn't get out of hand.

Ian was led over to the bike he would be using and the mechanic gave him a quick refresher on how the bike works. When that was over, Ian looked at the scoreboard that hung over the kiosk.

_Hmm, I can beat a 37:23._

"So, how do I race a heat?"

"Just tell the race manager. The first round is first come first race, after that you get an order depending on your time." The Rodian mechanic explained

"Thanks."

Ian approached the Duro managing the race. "I'd like to do a heat."

"Of Course, you may proceed."

The force field lowered and Ian drove through and turned to the starting position to his right. He could see the stands clearly, they weren't large, but still held quite a few sentients. Bringing his attention back to the starting lights, he revved the swoop bike's engine.

_Ready …. Set …………GO!_

The swoop bike rocketed from the starting line. Everything was passing as a blur as Ian worked hard to make the turns while avoiding obstacles and trying to hit accelerator pads.

_I think I made a big mistake. I should have let the Jedi do this._

Coming up to the last straightaway before the finish, Ian was having trouble keeping the bike stay straight. Swerving back and forth, he missed an acceleration pad and a couple obstacles. Getting closer now, he glanced to the side and caught a blur of the still burning remains of a swoop bike. Ian was jarred back to facing ahead by a sudden impact. He feared the worst, but he had only grazed one of the obstacles; it caused Ian to almost lose control, but he pulled it back on course. Without any more problems Ian made it to the finish. After pulled back into the pit, Ian took off his helmet and wiped the sweat off his brow and sighed with relief.

"That was close." He said to himself

He looked up to the scoreboard and waited for the update which too a few seconds.

_Hidden Beks ….. Verik, Ian …. 34:76 _

"Hey, you did it, you got the top time." Said the mechanic patting Ian on the back.

A few more riders went, but Ian's time still stood. That was until the Vulker's top rider, Redros, took his heat. After that race everyone looked back up to the scoreboard.

_Black Vulkers ….. Redros …. 32:49_

"Frack." Said Ian

With the first round done, Redros had the top time with Ian in second place. Since they go by times for the second round, Ian had a while to wait before he went again; they had the worst times go first. The mechanic spent the time checking the swoop bike and making sure the prototype engine was holding up.

Before it was Ian's turn again, the mechanic turned to speak with him. "The engine will be fine for one or two more heats, after that there is a good chance is will explode."

"I guess I have to finish it with this heat then."

When Ian got to the starting line he put all his concentration into piloting the swoop bike and winning the race. Again, the swoop bike rocketed off from its starting position and everything passed by in a blur. A couple seconds into the heat Ian thought the bike was going even faster than last time; losing himself with the errant thoughts, Ian brought his full focus straight ahead. He was perfectly controlled, maneuvering the swoop right or left just enough to dodge an obstacle or hit an acceleration pad. It felt like the heat had just begun once Ian made it to the finish line. Back in the pit everyone was cheering for him; everyone but the Vulkers. Looking to the scoreboard, it seemed to take longer than before to post his time.

_Hidden Beks …. Verik, Ian …….. 27:31_

"In all my years doing this I've never seen a time like that; no one can beat that." Said the mechanic with a look of shock on his face.

As a formality, the other racers all took their last heats, but no one passed Ian's time. When everyone was finished, the spot on the floor opened up and platform bearing the prizes came into view. All gangs participating had to submit a prize; some were just stacks of credits, while another was a keg of Tarisian Ale. But it was the Bek and Vulker prizes that caught all the attention. Force knows where they found it; the Beks put up a set of Echani equipment, including fiber armor and a well crafted vibrosword. The Vulker prize was a scantily clad young woman in a cage wearing a neural restraining collar to keep her docile; it was Bastila.

Ian had never seen Bastila before, but he recognized her immediately. _She was the Jedi from my dreams._

Before Ian could contemplate as to why he was dreaming about the Jedi, he noticed a dark skinned man walk up to the kiosk and argue with the race manager; he had a prize of his own, a lightsaber gleaming on his belt. The announcer proclaimed Ian the victor of the swoop race; this caused a mixture of cheers and boos, but the dark skinned man, whom Ian figured was Brejik, interrupted before and real celebration could begin.

'People, here me." He called. "The winner used an illegal swoop engine in the race, he should be disqualified."

"You're a damn liar Brejik." Ian accused

Brejik continued, ignoring Ian's statement. "Because of this, I am withdrawing the Vulker's share of the prizes."

"You can't do that, all participants must submit a prize." Said the race manager. "Its tradition."

"You fool, I don't care about your stupid traditions they are meaningless." Brejik ranted. "The Vulkers are the future and then I'll do away with these rules. This woman will fetch a nice price on the slave market, and with her I'll gain the support of all the swoop gangs."

"Not if I have something to say about that Brejik." Said by cultured voice with a pleasant accent.

Everyone in the pit turned towards the cage, shocked when the Jedi used the Force to break it open and steal a vibrosword from the guard.

"H … how is this possible? You were under the influence of a neural restraint collar; you couldn't have summoned the will to free yourself." Brejik argued.

"You underestimate the power of a Jedi's mind, a mistake you won't live to make again." Bastila spat

Brejik was furious that things were not going as planned, but also afraid of the Jedi that managed to escape; he had one last idea up his sleeve in an attempt to fix things. "Vulkers, to me, kill this woman, kill the swoop rider, kill them all."

"Oh great." Ian muttered. "I knew I should have brought my vibrosword."

Panic ensued once the fighting began. Pit crews and members of the smaller gangs ran for the exit, while the few Beks tried to hold their own against the greater numbers of the Vulkers. Out in the stands, members of various gangs started fighting causing even more chaos. The Sith troops tried to control the mob, but there were too many of them.

In a dark corner of the pit, a cloaked figure had waited for impending battle. Removing her cloak, Mya entered the fray with her two vibroswords. Being close to the exit, Mya moved to protect those trying to escape the fight.

Bastila quickly became accustomed to the feel of a vibrosword and stabbed the guard she stole it from when he tried to pull a blaster on her. Two more Vulkers moved in to attack the young Jedi. Still overcoming the effects of the neural restraint collar, Bastila couldn't maintain a connection to the Force to increase her speed; she had to rely on her swordsmanship in order to defeat the Vulkers. They attacked her with vicious, but uncontrolled blows, so she didn't have much trouble parrying them. One Vulker thrust his blade at her, which Bastila easily sidestepped; she then slashed at the Vulker's exposed midsection causing him to collapse in pain. Pressing her advantage, Bastila rained attacks with rapid procession; the Vulker constantly backed up to avoid being killed, but he misjudged one slash and had his prominent hand cut off. With those two thugs down, Bastila went to take care of Brejik; it was his blood she wanted to repay the humiliation she had to suffer.

A Vulker charged an unarmed Ian and attacked him with a Vibrostaff. Ian backed up quickly to avoid the rapid little thrusts by the Vulker. Becoming impatient, the Vulker made a hard thrust at Ian's midsection which he sidestepped; grabbing the pole, he wrenched the staff from the Vulkers grip. Spinning around, Ian caught the thug on the blunt end of the weapon. Turning the staff around, he aimed the blade at the sprawled Vulker; but before he could attack, another Vulker cut the staff in half with a vibrosword.

"Sith spit." Ian swore as he threw the remaining half of his weapon at the offending Vulker.

Buying some time with that last move, Ian looked around for another weapon; out of the corner of his eye he saw the Echani vibrosword. He made a mad dash for the weapon while the Vulker's were still stunned. When he had almost reached the vibrosword, a blaster bolt tore into his right thigh causing Ian to stumble and fall to his knees. With the Vulkers approaching, Ian forced himself to stand and hobble over to the weapon. Facing his two opponents, he had to parry a strong slash aimed at his head. While dueling with one Vulker, the other one fired blaster bolts at Ian; one shot grazed his right arm and another hit him in the right side. Grunting with the pain, Ian started to swing the vibrosword desperately; he knew that he couldn't keep this up. Missing a slash threw Ian off balance and the Vulker took advantage of this by slamming his elbow into Ian's face, knocking him to the ground. The Vulker raised his sword, preparing to finish Ian off; dazed he was unable to defend himself.

Seemingly from out of nowhere, a vibrosword pierced through the Vulker's back and the blade came out his chest. Ian was able to collect himself in time to roll away from the collapsing Vulker; glancing to where the vibrosword came from, he could see Mya engaging the other Vulker with her remaining vibrosword. She was able to easily disarm the thug and level him with a quick jab from her elbow. After downing the Vulker's Mya ran over to help Ian.

"You okay?"

"Ugh … I'll live." He said wincing in pain. "Help Bastila." Pointing over to where she was fighting with Brejik.

Despite battling a Jedi, Brejik was fairing very well; he was skilled with double bladed vibrosword. Both fighters were unable to put up a consistent offensive, each would get off a few blows before the other would counterattack. Even though she couldn't use the Force to help her, Bastila was still a formidable opponent; she was able to parry attacks from both ends of Brejik's vibrosword with only her single bladed weapon. But, she made the mistake of trying to fully connect with the Force before recovering and she became slightly dizzy. Seeing his adversary lose her concentration; Brejik forcefully shoved his weapon into Bastila's chest causing her fall backwards onto her rear. Mentally berating herself, Bastila rolled away from a quick jab from Brejik.

Brejik had the Jedi on the run, but as he was getting close to defeating her he saw another figure approaching him out of the corner of his eye. He turned just in time to parry a slash from the young woman. Mya's attack did the job of distracting Brejik long enough for Bastila to recover and continue fighting. The two Jedi were more than a match for the gang leader; soon Brejik was barely able to parry each attack.

One slash by Mya bit into Brejik's left arm, weakening his hold on his weapon. With his one good arm, Brejik swung his double bladed vibrosword back and forth to ward off both women. Mya backed off, but Bastila parried it to the side and then kicked Brejik in the knee. With a cry of pain, Brejik fell onto his knees; before he could recover Bastila plunged her weapon into his neck. He grasped his neck, but it did nothing to slow the blood flow as he fell face first to the ground and lay still.

"Maybe those bloody Vulkers will think twice next time before trying to keep a Jedi prisoner." Bastila spat watching Brejik's blood run down the blade of her vibrosword. Snapping out of her daze she tossed the weapon aside and bent down to retrieve her lightsaber from Brejik's belt.

Ian made his way over to Bastila and put his hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" he asked

She spun around to face him, still emotional from her ordeal she decided to take some anger out on him. "And as for you, if you think you can collect me as a prize …. wait …" she stopped abruptly, recognizing Ian. "Your Re … Ian, Ian Verik from the Spire, am I right?"

_There is no emotion, there is peace. I have no reason to fear him, he is no longer Revan and cannot touch the Force._

Ian was a little surprised that Bastila knew him, since they had never met before. "That's me. As for collecting you as my prize, well" Ian looked her up and down, "its tempting, but you'd probably be to difficult to manage." He said maintaining his wit despite the pain of his injuries.

"W … what, how dare you." Bastila bristled, but quickly changed the subject. "Can you explain to me what you were trying to accomplish by riding in that swoop race?"

"I was trying to save you."

"Save me?" Said Bastila incredulously. "Well you did a poor job of it. In case you hadn't noticed, I managed to free myself from that neural restraint collar without your help; in fact its more accurate to say that I save you, Brejik and his Vulkers would have left you for dead if I hadn't stepped into that fight, you're lucky I was here to get you out of this mess."

"Alright, I admit that things didn't go according to plan; but I saw you over there, you seemed to be having your own trouble."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Ian laughed. "I saw Brejik knock you onto your ass. He had you helpless and at his mercy."

"He may have had me at a disadvantage, but a Jedi is never helpless; maybe you've heard of a little thing called the Force." Said Bastila mockingly. "But I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on you. You did try to save me after all; even if it didn't go quite as planned. So, let's get down to business we're not out of danger yet. If I'm going to figure out a way for us to get off this planet I need to know what kind of resources we can draw on; first are we the only two survivors left from the _Endar Spire_?"

Ian just stared at his disbelievingly. _What's the nerve of this woman? I save her and she gives me a lecture._ "Well, we have Mya over there." He said and pointed at her.

"Ah, Mya, its good to see that you made it." Said Bastila sincerely.

"Also Carth Onasi."

"Carth Onasi is alive, finally some good news." Said Bastila genuinely pleased. "Carth is one of the Republic's best soldiers; he's proved himself a hero dozen times over. And he sent you here to save me? Maybe I misjudged you, Carth wouldn't have sent you if he wasn't confident in your … abilities. Forgive me, despite my Jedi training I still tend to act a bit rashly sometimes."

"Yep, he has complete faith in me." Said Ian and Mya snickered.

Bastila looked back and forth between the two, confused at what they were hinting at. "Please take me to Carth right away, between the four of us I'm sure we can figure out some way to get off this planet before the Sith realize were here."

"Well, we have an apartment in the Upper City, but it might be a good idea to find you something to wear before we take you there." Said Ian grinning. "Not that I mind your outfit, but you'll draw too much attention dressed like that."

Bastila looked down to see that she was only wearing skimpy bra and panties; her face flushed crimson in embarrassment. She had forgotten about her lack of clothing due to her focus being in the battle.

"Here, this should do." Said Mya retrieving her discarded cloak.

Bastila wrapped herself up in it as much as possible. "Yes, thank you."

As they started to go Ian suddenly froze, Mya shook him but nothing happened.

_He was on that ship again. **What am I doing here, I don't get it**. There was Bastila and she was fighting a Dark Jedi. **I already saw this, what's the point?** He watched the two duel again and like last time, Bastila won. Unlike last time the vision didn't end there, it expanded to show what Bastila was looking at. Standing in front of her was an armor clad figure wielding a crimson bladed lightsaber. The pair stared at each other for a few long moments. When Bastila made a move the vision exploded into a blinding white flash. After it receded both figures were sprawled on the deck, but the dark armor clad being seemed to take the brunt of the damage._

_There is betrayal._

Ian blinked and was stunned to see the two Jedi stare at him with concerned looks. "Are you alright?" asked Bastila

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"Nothing important, maybe I'll tell you later. We should get out of here."

Wanting to leave before the Sith arrive; Bastila, Ian and Mya headed back to the Upper City apartment. Moving through the Lower City was relatively easy; they only had to stop a few times so Ian could deal with his fans. The Upper City was where the three were the most cautious; Sith soldiers ran constant patrols in order to prevent revolts and if any of them recognize Bastila, they were done for. They could see the entrance to the apartment building, it would only take them a couple more minutes to reach it; but a Sith patrol approached them.

"Stay calm, let me handle this." Ian whispered

"Excuse me citizens"

"Yes, can I help you?" asked Ian playing the part of the innocent civilian.

"We've had reports that a Jedi is loose on Taris." The soldier said. "Have you seen anything out of the ordinary?"

"No, nothing that I can recall."

"The Jedi we are looking for is a young woman; could either of them happen to be her?"

"My girls here?" Ian questioned patting both of them on the butt. "Neither of them are a Jedi, they have been with me for years."

"I see. You may move along citizen." Said the soldier dismissing them, but he glanced back at them as they walked off.

They made it to the apartment without any more trouble; except for Ian. As Ian opened the door, Bastila stalked past him awarding him with a glare and Mya punched him in the shoulder.

"Hey, what's that for?"

"Don't touch me like that again you nerf herder." Said Mya

"What? It was part of the cover."

"Sure." Said Mya not believing him at all. "You just wanted to sneak a feel."

"What did you do." Asked Carth causing both Jedi to glare at him. "Okay, never mind." He said putting his hands up defensively, turning to Bastila he continued. "I'm glad to see you alive Bastila, things are finally starting to look up. Now we can work on finding a way off this planet."

"Wait, you mean you don't have a plan to escape Taris yet?" said Bastila. "What have you been doing this entire time?"

"Trying to find you, remember?" said Ian exasperated. _I'm starting to regret saving her._

"I see. So now that I am in command of this mission again we can get things done."

_Not this again._ Carth thought, he had had enough of her juvenile behavior on the Spire. "Bastila, you can't go berating your troops when they have been doing everything in their power to get things done."

"Carth, that doesn't sound like an appropriate way to address your commanding officer." Bastila scolded. "If it wasn't for my Battle Meditation none of us would have made it off the _Endar Spire_."

"That's all well and good Bastila, but just because your power can win us a few battles doesn't make you a good leader. A good leader would listen to the advice of those who have seen more battles than she even will."

"Fine then Carth, what do you suggest we do?" she asked, her voice taking a condescending tone.

"Will you just shut up." Ian snapped. "I've had enough of your attitude Bastila."

"My attitude? If anyone is in sore need of an attitude adjustment, its you."

"That's it, I'm outta here." He said walking to the door.

"Wait, you can't leave."

"Oh yeah? Watch me." Said Ian as he left the apartment.

"Why are all of you just standing there? Someone should go after him." Said Bastila

"Carth, you should go after him." Mya suggested. "I have something to discuss with Bastila."

Both Bastila and Carth just stared at Mya for a moment wondering what she was thinking; but then Carth just left with a sigh.

---------------------------------------------

When Carth caught up to Ian, he was at the exit of the apartment building and was talking with some Twi'lek.

"Hey, wait up." Carth called after the Twi'lek walked off.

Ian turned around and waited for Carth to catch up. "So, you get fed up with Bastila too?"

Carth chuckled. "She has a way with people doesn't she? Granted, she can be a little arrogant at times, but you just have to get used to her."

"Ha, I doubt that's going to happen."

"Give her a break. She has a lot of pressure put on her you know. Everyone expects her to use this power of hers to save us from the Sith, that's a lot for such a young woman to handle."

"I guess your right, but its not like I'll have to deal with it. Once we get off this planet I'm going back on the job."

"You mean smuggling."

"That's right."

Carth finally decided to bring up the Twi'lek. "So, what did that Twi'lek have to say?"

"What?"

"I saw you by the door with that Twi'lek, what did he say?"

"Oh, that. He said there was someone who wants to meet me in the cantina, which works out perfectly, I could use a drink."

"Yeah, me too. Who are you supposed to meet?"

"Canderous Ordo, the guy we met in the Under City."

Carth grasped Ian's arm stopping him. "That Mandalorian." He spat. "What does he want."

"I have no idea, that's why I'm going to meet him." Said Ian as he walked toward the cantina. "Plus, like you said, we could use a drink."

"Fine. This better be good."

---------------------------------------------

"What do you have to tell me?" Bastila asked

"Its about that smuggler, Ian."

"Yes, what of him."

"Well, I think he can use the Force."

Bastila blanched. "Are you positive?"

"Yes. I sensed him use it when he was talking to a Twi'lek girl and again during a battle when a vibrosword flew to his hand."

Bastila looked shocked. "I see. I believe you are right. When he stopped there in the swoop pit I swear he was having a vision of some sort. We have to tell the masters about this when we leave here." _They told me he wouldn't be able to use the Force; what happened?_

"What's wrong?" asked Mya, she could feel the unease flowing from the other woman.

"N .. nothing, everything is fine."

"Are you sure? There isn't anything wrong with Ian, is there?"

"No, not at all. Let's just deal with escaping the planet for now, we can discuss more about Ian later."

"Alright."

---------------------------------------------

Ian and Carth sat at a table with Canderous Ordo and drank Tarisian Ale while waiting for him to get to the point.

"Ah, the man I've been looking for. I have a proposition for you."

"So, I've heard."

"I've been watching you since the Under City. Your actions in the swoop race proved that you are the right man for the job."

"And what would that be?"

"I have a plan to get me, you and that group of your off Taris."

"Oh really?"

"Don't listen to him, he's a Mandalorian he can't be trusted."

"Hey, I'm not talkin to you, I'm talkin to your friend over here." Canderous said. "If you don't know, for a ship to leave the planet it needs the Sith codes."

"What for?"

"The Sith put up automated turrets in orbit and any ship with out the code will get wasted before clearing the atmosphere."

"Right, so where do I come in."

"I figured that anyone who would pilot a swoop bike as crazy as you did would be crazy enough to break into the Sith base."

"Break into the Sith base?"

"That's where they keep the codes."

"And why do you need me to do this, you seem capable?"

"Normally I would have done this myself, but I've been here for a couple years and I'm known, if I did the job the Sith would be all over Davik's estate and I can't have that. You're new here, you could get away with it."

"That's a risky job." Said Ian leaning forward and resting his chin in his hands and pondered if the job could be done.

"That's why I say we get out of here." Said Carth

"This is none of your business anyway Republic, you can go if you wish I know you aren't man enough for the job anyway." Canderous taunted

Carth was about to jump from his chair and punch Canderous in the jaw, but Ian held out a hand to stop him.

"I'll do it, but how do you plan to escape Taris and why do you want to?"

"If you didn't already figure it out, I work for Davik Kang and the Exchange. After the war Mandalorian mercs like me have become a commodity and was promised a large sum of credits, but after a couple of years I haven't gotten what I'm owed. As for how, I plan to take Davik's flag ship, the _Ebon Hawk_."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Oh no, not until you get the codes."

"Alright, so how do I break into the base, it has to be secure."

"You'll need a hi-tech astromech that can break in. And I happen to know where to get one; go see Janice Nall, she was making a droid for Davik just tell her I sent you to pick it up."

"You got it, where do I meet you when I have them?"

"Javyar's cantina, three days from now. That should give you plenty of time."

"See you then."

Ian and Carth got up and left the cantina, heading back to the apartment. Ian was running ideas through his head of the best way to break into the Sith base. Next to him, Carth fumed, he couldn't believe they we're going to deal with that Mandalorian.

"What the hell are you thinking? We can't trust him." Carth snapped

"Maybe not, but do you have any other ideas?"

"Well, no, but that doesn't mean we should work with the Mandalorian scum."

"Right now I don't think we have a choice."

The two walked the rest of the way in silence. When they reached the apartment building, they found Mission and Zalbaar wandering around the hallway.

"How did you two get up here?" Ian asked.

Mission giggled. "We have our ways, but we didn't know which room was yours."

"Come on, this way." He said leading them to their room. "Its good that you two showed up, we have some things to talk about."

When they entered the apartment Bastila stared at the two new sentients with Ian and Carth.

"Who are they?" she asked pointing at them

"Oh yeah, I forgot you haven't met them yet. Bastila, meet Mission Vao." Said Ian gesturing to the Twi'lek who waved enthusiastically. "And her friend Zalbaar or Big Z."

"Nice to meet you." Said Bastila forcing a smile.

"They helped us save you."

"I see, thank you for your assistance." She said. "But in the end I did manage to save myself, remember?"

"Yeah, but you didn't escape that cage until Mya and I got there."

"Alright, if it makes you happy, I admit that the fight you started after the race was a good distraction for my escape."

"See, I did help the damsel in distress." Ian said with a smirk

"I was not a damsel in distress." Bastila snapped. "I am completely capable of taking care of myself."

"Whoa, calm down there." Said Ian. "Well, enough fun for now. I've come across a way to escape this planet."

"Oh, and what might that be." Bastila asked

"I got an offer …"

"A kriffing Mandalorian merc wants us to break into the Sith base." Carth shouted not able to contain his anger.

"What? That's ridiculous, we can't break into the Sith base." Said Bastila. "You didn't agree to this did you?"

"Of course I did, its all we've got." Said Ian

"Bloody hell."

"This is insane." Said Mya

"I think it will work." Said Ian

"Oh, and how's that." Said Carth

"Well, we get that astromech like Canderous said and a small group of us sneak into the base and try to avoid and patrols."

"That's a wonderful plan, you probably thought about it a total of ten seconds." Said Bastila

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"No I don't" she admitted

"Then I guess none of you complain that I at least have something."

"Do we have any money for the droid?" asked Mya

"Well, after everything we bought we have a total of one thousand three hundred sixty-eight credits left." Said Carth

"That enough?" Ian asked

"Doubtful"

"Well, I guess we're going to be getting up early tomorrow to make us some credits. We have three days before I have to meet Canderous in the Lower City cantina, so lets get some sleep people." Said Ian


End file.
